Macarena
by ChibiFrubaGirl
Summary: [DemyxRiku: multichap] They all want him. They can't have him. So just how are you going to get him? Let the games begin. [onesided: AxelRiku LeonRiku CloudRiku etc.]
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** It's here! Huzzah! I know you've all been waiting and now finally here it is!!! WHEE!!! Okay, people I plan to work very hard on this story! And I don't mean that I'm going to update super-fast or anything (I might if I feel like it and get a lot of reviews –hinthint-) I just mean I'm going to really do my best with the writing and the quality and all that. I have a lot of expectations for this multi-chapter.  
**Disclaimer:** Oh look… Cheese…

**Song:** But It's Better If You Do

**Note:** Not all of the songs are going to literally or completely match the chapter they represent. They just sort of set the mood I was trying to create… Yeah.

**LEMON WARNING!!!**

**Prologue**

"Well this wasn't nearly as much fun as I'd thought it would be."

"Yeah, but it'll be okay Sora, we've still got a week left to make up for this."

"I guess you're right, c'mon let's track down the others and get the hell out of here."

"I'm in, totally, this party _sucked_."

Kairi and Sora were standing in the living room of their friend from school Quistis Trepe. The blonde senior was fairly popular at their high school and was renowned for both her looks and brains. She had blonde straight hair that was typically seen done up in complex styles and narrow yet soft features. She was good with people because she had an uncanny ability to solve any problem without getting anyone mad at her. Thus she was popular and so when she threw a party people came. Lots of people.

Usually Quistis's parties were fun but this one had been a bit dull, the blasting music only seemed to numb people's personalities and the drinks were too strong and not at all sweet. A lot of people had shown (as was expected) but the large crowd that, in most cases, would lead to one blast of a party only made things more impersonal and awkward. Kairi looked around and quickly spotted Selphie, Wakka and Tidus talking in the quickly thinning crowd. She flagged them over.

"Hey you guys," said Sora as he spotted the oncoming trio, "we're gonna go now okay?"

"Fine with me," said Tidus, "this party really _sucked._"

"Exactly what I said," agreed Kairi, nodding her head.

That was when Sora noticed who was missing, "Hey… Has anyone seen Riku?"

All of them stopped and looked around. The silver haired teen was not in the living room that was for sure.

Sora and the others were in their junior year of high school while their best friend Riku was in his senior year. And he had graduated that year so that gang had decided to make sure their older friend would never forget his last week hanging out with them like old times since he would soon be leaving for college in just seven days.

Going to one of Quistis's parties had seemed like a good idea to start The Dreaded Last Week off but in the end the party had been one big flop. Selphie sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Well… He might be upstairs, there are people up there too," she offered eyeing the stairway. _Quistis's house is huge…_

"Maybe he got drunk and is currently preoccupied in one of the closets," said Tidus grinning suggestively, "you never know… It's his senior year. He might've decided to throw away his virginity before he left."

Wakka laughed and even Kairi and Selphie giggled a little bit. Sora just looked disgusted… Or maybe he was surprised they would even consider something like that. Some combination of the two it seemed.

"You guys, that's sick," he exclaimed, "Riku's probably just upstairs talking to the guests."

"Aw, c'mon Sora," said Tidus, "you've got no imagination. You're telling me you can't imagine Riku on top of some innocent, pretty girl right now?"

Sora spluttered various words before finally managing to get out the sentence, "Tidus, that…. God, Tidus you can't be serious. I mean, Riku's just… He's Riku!"

"Oh wow, he's Riku?" asked Kairi, "That's such a great excuse… He's only one of the best looking guys in his class…"

"I know ya?" Wakka added.

"Whatever you guys," muttered Sora shaking his head a little, "but I'm telling you, Riku's probably just hanging out with the guests upstairs."

"Sure thing Sora," said Kairi, wiggling her eyes brows in a complex dance of suggestiveness, "whatever you say…"

She and Selphie burst into another round of giggles while Sora merely rolled his eyes. Honestly, he loved his friends but sometimes they could be so unrealistic. Sure, Sora himself was pretty hyperactive and naïve… But at least he knew where to draw the line. Riku having sex? Nu-uh. No way.

oOoOo

Riku's head was buzzing faintly. He wondered vaguely if he was drunk. Well if he was, then he wasn't _that _drunk… Not like the people who get seriously drunk on TV and end up in jail or in deathly accidents. Please. He was Riku after all. And Riku was a responsible kid.

That's what all the teachers told his parents anyway. But if those overcritical vultures said it then it must be so. Then again, mused Riku, if they saw him right now they might change their minds.

"So you got a name?" asked the older man while he attempted to tug Riku's shirt off. Riku squirmed a little until he was finally free of the offending garment.

"Riku," came his slightly (only slightly) slurred response. For one triumphant moment, Riku thought that he had just proved how un-drunk he was by answering so well. But then again, he realized, telling someone his name when asked was probably one of those automatic responses that just seemed to leave your mouth and didn't require much thought. So maybe he was drunker than he thought… Oh well…

"That's a nice name," murmured the guy. Riku realized quite suddenly that he didn't know this brunette's name.

"What about you?" he asked, ignoring the mushy quality his words seemed to have. The man seemed to think over his answer for a moment.

"I'm Irvine," he said, "just Irvine please."

"Mm-kay," said Riku quietly, he'd only just realized that the two of them were in a closet. _It's kind of cramped in here…_

"Riku was it?" asked Irvine with just a hint of playfulness, "mind helping me get your pants off?"

"Oh," Riku looked down and realized that yes indeed his pants were still on, "S- Sure… Okay, um…" With fumbling fingers he undid the zipper to his jeans to reveal plain, solid colored boxers. It was kind of hard to tell what color they were in the dimness of the closet. They were probably black but they could always be a really dark shade of green or red or blue or… _Do I have red boxers?_

Riku didn't have time to answer his question though because the next instant Irvine was naked too and his hands were roving over Riku's slimmer body. And oh God Irvine was touching him in ways Riku had never been touched before. _First time for everything,_ thought Riku, quoting his friend Kairi's favorite saying.

And though it was his first time, Riku felt like he was doing pretty well. Irvine seemed to be enjoying himself at least. In fact, Riku found he rather enjoyed the feeling of having Irvine's much larger being take him in his mouth.

When Riku released Irvine swallowed and followed up the whole thing by kissing Riku gently on his forehead. And Riku kissed back and pretty soon Irvine had Riku on his stomach with his legs spread wide, invitingly, temptingly.

After that Riku lost track of what happened in what order of events. He remembered the feeling of Irvine thrusting into him. And he remembered more kissing. And he was sure that somewhere along the line there had been an orgasm. But he couldn't recall much else and even those events were slightly foggy and unclear.

oOoOo

"Hm," Selphie bit her lip, "well he's not in here either… Maybe… Should we ask Quistis for help?"

It was about fifteen minutes after Sora had initially noticed Riku's absence. The group of friend had spent the last quarter of an hour searching the large (almost mansion-like) house for their lost friend. So far they'd come to the conclusion that Riku was either in a closet or he'd left.

"Ask me for help with what?" came a polite sounding voice from behind them. Sora and the others spun around to see Quistis stepping into the otherwise vacant room from behind them.

"We were looking for Riku," said Kairi, nervously tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"Have you seen him?" asked Sora, Quistis chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"I remember seeing him come up here somewhere," she said, "you can't find him?"

Everyone shook their heads. Quistis tapped her lip.

"Well, almost everyone's left," she said gesturing to her now almost completely empty house, "I can't blame them, this definetly wasn't one of my best parties," she added bitterly, "if you can't find him in this 'crowd' then I can only guess he must've left already… Lulu!"

Lulu, a dark, gothic junior looked up and walked over to the group. She tilted her head inquiringly at Quistis, "Something wrong?"

"You know Riku, right?" asked Quistis, putting her hands together, when Lulu nodded she continued, "Did you happen to see him leave the house?" asked Quistis.

"I think so," said Lulu slowly, "but it's hard to remember exactly. No offense Quistis, but people kind of started leaving quickly."

"Yes, I know," murmured Quistis, hanging her head slightly in defeat, "so you think you saw him leave?"

"Mm-hm," said Lulu, "he was with someone too… They both looked a little drunk."

Tidus who had been watching the conversation with keen interest, turned to Sora and folded his arms smugly, "Told ya so."

Sora still seemed to be absorbing the information, "Whatever," he scoffed stubbornly, "Lulu said she wasn't sure… It could've been someone else."

"No, no, I'm pretty sure it was him," said Lulu reassuringly, "he was with… ah… What was their name…? Something with an 'I'… I can't remember…"

"Well, either way," said Quistis turning back to Selphie, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, and Sora, "it doesn't look like he's here anymore. You should all head home. It's getting pretty late."

"Yeah, good idea," said Sora wearily as he and the others began heading out the door of the large house. Kairi and Selphie were whispering about all the girls at their school who had names beginning with "I". Tidus and Wakka were going over the blitzball game that had been on TV earlier that day. Sora listened to both conversations with detached interest. He was secretly wondering what exactly Riku was doing right about now.

oOoOo

When Riku woke up the next morning the first thing he noticed was that he had a headache. The second thing he noticed was that he was not in his own bed.

As soon as that fact registered in his splitting head Riku made to sit up quickly. He was stopped by two strong arms that were currently secured around his waist. His naked waist. Riku blinked and looked down, yes indeed not only was he in someone else's bed he was sleeping with someone.

"Ugh," he groaned putting a hand to his forehead and hunching forward a little. These actions must've wakened the sleeping figure next to him.

Irvine blinked groggily before taking in his surroundings. The sun was streaming through the windows and his alarm clock read seven in the morning. He sighed; it was much too early to be awake. That was when Irvine noticed Riku. And stared.

"Um, hey," he said, and though his mind was still absorbing the fact that there was someone in bed with him, his eyes (perverted eyes at that) were roving over Riku's exposed body. Almost as if he could sense the direction Irvine's eyes were headed, Riku subconsciously shifted so that the blankets covered him.

"H- Hello," came Riku's nervous response.

Irvine sighed, "You're the kid I picked up at the party yesterday right?"

"Uh, I guess so," said a thoroughly confused Riku, "I don't remember that much… I think… Yeah, I kind of remember that."

"Ah…" said Irvine, eyeing Riku thoughtfully, "First time?"

"Yeah," said Riku a bit shakily as he put a hand to his head experimentally, "in fact I've never even been drunk before… Does it always hurt this much?"

"Hangovers are a sucker kid and the first one is always a doozy, you're in for a rough day," said Irvine sympathetically he say up and began scouring the room for his clothes. Riku blushed; Irvine didn't seem the least bit modest about being naked in front of him.

"So how many time have you done this?" asked Riku quietly, "I mean… You know, sleeping with someone after a party or… Something like that…"

"I don't know, a few," said Irvine, currently he was attempting to pull his boxers out from under the dresser at the other side of the room, once he'd realized that they were stuck pretty badly he pulled back and smirked at Riku, "It's not like I'm some sort of slut or man-whore… I mean, sorry if you've gotten the wrong impression but… You know, I hope this isn't some sort of bad impression I'm making."

"No, it's okay, I get what you're saying," murmured Riku, taking in his surroundings. It was a pretty simple room. A dresser, a nightstand, the covers on the bed were pretty plain. Slightly dirtied in some places but Riku tried to avoid thinking about that. When he looked out of the window he immediately recognized an outstanding view of the town, so he was in an apartment.

It was a nice apartment though. And looking around Riku spotted many little signs scattered throughout the room that told him quite a bit about who Irvine was. There was a small shelf of books in one corner; which just proved that while Irvine didn't have time for reading, he tried.

Riku smiled softly, Irvine seemed like a nice guy… Maybe this would go somewhere; they could talk a little and see what came out of i-

"Here!"

And Riku's thoughts were promptly cut off when his boxers were thrown at him and fell atop his face. He heard an appreciative laugh from Irvine and pretty soon Riku found himself smirking with the brunette man to the point that in a few minutes the both of them were laughing.

"Sorry about that," joked Irvine, "I couldn't resist… You were spacing out and…"

Riku waved it off airily, "It's okay," he said good-naturedly as he began pulling on his boxers, "So do you have any plans for the rest of the-

_**"AISH! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! GET OUT!!!"**_

oOoOo

Riku kept his gaze fixated on the ground as he stomped up the steps to his home. His feet hit the pavement unnaturally hard, as if he were purposely trying to inflict some sort of injury on the sidewalk. Which, judging from his torn expression, he most likely was.

He didn't even bother to pause as he stomped up the steps to his family's front porch and promptly swung the door to his open violently. When he stepped through the front door he stepped out of his boots and swung off his jacket, sighing heavily.

"Where were you last night?" asked his mom, Mrs. Ishida, glaring at her son much like an X-ray, Riku gulped but quickly lied through his teeth.

"I went to Sora's house after the party and slept over," said Riku, shrugging a little. His mom looked doubtful and less than ready to believe.

"Your eyes are red," she commented accusingly.

Riku shrugged again, trying his best to look uncaring, "We stayed up late. Watched some movies, ate some ice cream… You know normal sleepover stuff. Nothing out of the usual."

"Right," she said, clearly still not believing him. She continued to stare at him with her arms folded and her back rigid. Finally after Riku decided he couldn't take it anymore he headed upstairs to his room, all too aware of her eyes still burning into his back.

When he reached his room the first thing he did was change into pajamas (heck, he'd had a _long_ night) and flopped into his bed, all in one fluid motion. He sighed exhaustedly and flipped his cell phone open, _Twenty-two missed calls, _he mused in amusement, _all from Sora…_

Riku frowned a bit guiltily, Sora and the others must've been really worried. Biting his lip nervously, he punched in Sora's number and waited patiently as the phone rang. _I'm going to get a hell of a lecture…_

"Hello, this is Sora."

"Sora?" Riku sat up in bed and ran a hand through his disheveled hair, "Hey it's me Riku, look I was just calling to-

"Riku! Where've you been! We were really worried last night! Lulu said she saw you leaving with some brunette and that the two of you looked drunk! You weren't drunk were you?" Sora blabbered on and on and Riku winced at the volume in his voice.

"Ugh, Sora shut up and listen 'kay?" he grunted irritably, "I've got a killer headache so if you could keep the volume down-

There was an audible gasp at the other end of the line, "So you were drunk! Riku, that's so irresponsible, I can't believe you would-

"Sora!" cried Riku, then he lowered his voice before continueing, "Volume, please. Anyways, yes I was, Lulu was right… I left with a brunette… I… How much do you know Sora? What did Lulu tell you?"

"She just said you left with some brown haired girl whose name probably started with an 'I'," said Sora uncertainly, "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," muttered Riku absently, "So that's all?"

"Yeah, listen uh… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I've got a hangover but other than that… I'm fine. No harm done."

"Did… Did you and the girl…? I mean um…" Sora let the statement hang, he coughed a few times. Riku bit his lip, he hated the way Sora sounded so… Disappointed.

"Yes," said Riku in a hoarse whisper, "…yeah, we did."

"Oh… Oh okay…" But it didn't sound like it was okay. It sounded like Sora didn't think it was okay at all.

"…Yeah…" mumbled Riku rolling over on his bed and burying his face in his pillow, "Look, I'm sorry about all this… I know it was stupid of me I guess I just thought… You know, since I'm leaving and all I should-… Yeah. I'm just really sorry Sora. I really am."

"It's okay," Sora breathed, "I just-… I didn't expect it I guess…"

"It's fine, I'm disappointed in myself too," cut in Riku, he sucked in some air tightly as another sharp pang ran through his head. _Since when was the light on my ceiling so damn bright? _

"Um Sora?" asked Riku tentatively, "Um… I really hate to say this but… If my mom calls could you tell her uh…"

"That you slept over at my place last night? Yeah, I can do that," said Sora, a bit of his cheerfulness coming back as amusement sunk into his statement.

"Thanks," said Riku, not ungrateful in the slightest.

"No prob Riku," said Sora reassuringly, "I'm gonna go now okay?"

"Yeah sure, see ya around," said Riku.

"Bye!"

Riku sighed and pressed his cell phone against his head in an effort to make some of the mental twinges go away. _I wish I could tell them… _He though sadly, _I wish I could just… Come out and say it._

Riku curled up and pulled the covers over his head a little, "I wish I could just tell them I'm gay," he mumbled into his blanket.

Over that past few years, ever since Riku had first come to realization about his sexuality, Riku had been hiding the fact that he was gay from… Well, basically everyone. Friends. Family. Teachers. The little old lady who fed the squirrels in the park. Everyone.

And it wasn't easy either. He'd had to go out with a few girls just to avoid creating suspicions. People said he'd grown "mysterious". Well, Riku reasoned, this was probably because he was hiding a large chunk of himself from them.

Sometimes, Riku would be plagued by his conscience. Yes, there were definetly times when a little angel version of himself would appear on his shoulder and would of course start berating him for hiding his own sexuality from the world. Riku would, however, always silence this part of himself by quickly reminding himself of one important fact:

The population of Destiny Islands consisted of nothing but homophobia and bigotry concerning it's citizens' sexuality.

This of course, was one of the main reasons Riku was so looking forward to leaving it all behind in just a week. He'd recently gotten a big scholarship for a college on the mainland, right in the heart of the city! Personally, Riku had seen this as his chance to finally come out of the closet. So to speak.

After all, from what he'd heard the city, although impersonal and unforgiving, was also a place where almost anything was accepted. Riku figured that in a large urban area filled with loons and rapists among many other widely diverse groups… One little queer wouldn't stand out too much.

After placing his phone on his desk Riku got up and walked over to his calendar. And there it was. Just seven days away from today. A small square circled in red ink and labeled:

_"I LEAVE FOR COLLEGE!!!" _

Needless to say Riku was looking forward to leaving (as much as he would miss Sora and the others).

_So,_ said Riku crossing off yesterday on his calendar, _only seven days left… Let the countdown begin._

**Author's Note READ THIS NOW!!!:** Okay, people? This is just a prologue. Got it? The next chapter takes place two years after this one. TWO YEARS. I'm just making sure you all understand that. See, this chapter starts off when Riku is starting his freshmen year of college. The next chapter starts off with Demyx transferring to the same college as Riku. So in this chapter, Riku and Demyx are both freshmen. And in the next chapter they'll both be sophomore.

This isn't the most creative of plots, but I hope to make up for that with the writing and… Trust me it won't be boring. Plus, it won't always be this… lemony. Yeah there really aren't going to be that many lemons in this story datcha? Moving on, I'm really looking forward to writing this story. The plot is a bit cliché, but like I said I don't think you'll mind.

If all goes well this story will be… Um, let me put it this way. Macarena is to Demiku as Good Enough is to Axel/Riku. Macarena is to Demiku as It Started With A Car is to Leon/Riku. Macarena is to Demiku as 100 Steps to Somewhere is to Cloud/Riku. And so on and so forth. This dream of mine however, will only come true if you review people!

So leave me a review okay? I do love reading them.

bliss


	2. Questions and Answers

**Pre-Author's Note:** Okay. The prologue showed Riku getting ready to leave for his first year of college. Now in this chapter, Riku is starting his sophomore year of college. Demyx is also starting his sophomore year of college and he's decided to transfer from his community college. So now he's starting at the same college Riku goes to. And THAT is the convenient magic of FAN fiction.

**Disclaimer:** HA!!! Ha, ha! You think I will bow down to your puny requests?! You fools! FOOLS!!! I DEFY YOU ALL AND YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS!!!

Chapter One

_Xehanort University._

Demyx sighed before folding up the piece of paper he was clutching so tightly in his hand. One of his feet was tapping against the hard wooden flooring of his parents' home. His left hand, still wound tightly around the slip of paper, was currently itching for something to do. And his right hand was holding a phone up to his ear.

"Come on," he whispered aloud, "just pick up the goddamn phone already… Finally. It's about time. Hey Axel."

"Hey," came the automatic response Demyx's red headed friend always seemed to use.

Demyx sighed with relief and quickly began talking, "Listen Axel, I know you're busy getting ready for the new year at college and all that but I really need a ride to the University and I would really-

"The reason you're hearing my gorgeous voice right now is because I'm currently too busy scoring with hotties to come to the phone. If you'd like to leave me a message so we can hang later, please leave it after the…"

A loud beep echoed in Demyx's ear.

"OH COME ON!!!" roared Demyx as he violently slammed the phone back into its place, he was seething, "That is just fucking wrong," he snarled.

Banging his head once on a nearby desk he groaned. Casting a weary glance to his bags waiting patiently by the door he sighed. Today was _so _not his day. After a few minutes and much swearing on Demyx's part the blonde pushed himself off the wall and wandered over to his bags.

He had worked so hard to pack all his belongings he needed for college in those bags, taking extra care to do a tidy job (because God knows, Demyx is a slob). And now he found himself with no means of transport to college. His first day at his new college. He groaned and kicked at the wall he'd been leaning on.

He'd spent a year going to a crappy community college to save up for tuition at Xehanort's. _Why, __why__**why**_

"Okay," Demyx breathed, squaring his shoulders as if preparing for battle, "let's just think about this for a moment… Mom and Dad are out shopping for the next hour or so… Axel's not answering… Roxas borrowed my car… Um… What else can I use to get there?"

The answer hit him like a baseball.

oOoOo

"Larxene? Uh, hi it's Demyx… Listen, I'm sorry to bother you but uh… I need help getting to college… Eh heh… Yeah. Could you come pick me up? ...Please…?"

oOoOo

_"OH COME ON!!!"_

Axel winced, and nearly dropped his cell phone in alarm. He'd been checking the messages on his phone to see if he'd missed any calls. And sure enough, there was Demyx. Swearing loudly throughout the entire two minutes Axel's answering machine (as he called it) in his cell provided the caller. Yikes.

Checking the time Demyx had left the message, Axel found it had been at around seven. _Where was I at seven? _He wondered idly, _Oh right… Preening…_

Axel smiled to himself, and subconsciously patted his gleaming, locks of fire… So quote.

_Ah well,_ he thought, lazily stretching his arms up and over his head, _It probably wasn't anything important… _

Axel sighed contently as he looked around at the grounds. Students were streaming in from every which way; laughing, gossiping, talking… He smiled. It was a brand new year all right.

Axel's smirk intensified as he took in all the bags the different students were lugging around. It felt good to be in the center of all those suffering backs and arms while he had nothing to carry. This was because Axel had purposefully unpacked all his stuff in his dorm at record speed…

Just for the purpose of being able to laze around while watching the other people suffer under the weight of their luggage.

That was when Axel caught an all too familiar glint of silver out of the corner of his eye. His grin became more feral, and he was just about to begin stalking his prey when he heard a very loud, very _angry_ yell emitting from somewhere behind him.

He turned around to see a very disheveled looking Demyx, dragging himself out of his older cousin Larxene's car; struggling under what looked like a mountain of luggage.

As Axel began to head over in order to help his long time friend, he distinctly heard Larxene shouting, "You owe me big time!" To Demyx.

To which Demyx responded with, "Yeah, yeah! Don't I know it! But I wouldn't have even _had _to call you if Axel had just picked up his stupid phone!"

Axel winced. _So that's what that was about…_

For a moment Axel considered running away now and facing Demyx's wrath later. But his hopes of achieving this goal were promptly squished when Demyx's mound of baggage fell on top of him; smothering the poor blonde.

Sighing exasperatedly, Axel began making his way over to the mound of crap that was currently suffocating Demyx. After much work and examination of Demyx's assorted shit, the blonde sitar player was free to breathe again.

"Thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his neck (it was no doubt sore from the great weight that had previously been pressed against it), that was when he noticed who had helped him, "Oh. _You._"

"Yeah, me," said Axel, chuckling warmly, "I heard your message, sounds like you're having a bad day."

"And who's fault is that?" grumbled Demyx, glaring pointedly at Axel, his expression then brightened and he waved a hand airily, "Ah well, it doesn't matter. I'm here now!" He threw his arms up and whooped.

"Yup," said Axel, "welcome to Xehanort."

"So," said Demyx grinning up at the towering building, "this is it. Man, it was so worth spending a year at the community college to come here…" He sighed happily, "Well, c'mon Axel!"

"Wha-

Axel was cut off as Demyx dumped a large portion of his luggage in Axel's arms.

"Here," chirped Demyx cheerfully, "to make up for missing my cry for help you can carry some!" And with that the blonde walked up the steps into the building, whistling cheerfully. Axel rolled his eyes, before grudgingly hefting up the bags and following after his friend.

"So," managed Axel once he had finally caught up with Demyx, "who's your roommate?"

Demyx, using his free hand (he had given Axel the task of carrying most of his things), pulled out the slip of paper, "Uh, I'm rooming with some guy named Riku Ishida."

There was a moment of silence, in which Demyx stared confusedly at the blank look on Axel's face. Then, seconds later…

_"WHAAAAAAAT?!"_

Axel dropped the bags and grabbed Demyx by the shoulders, shaking the blonde violently, "What did you just say?! Riku?! You're- you're-… rooming with…" Panting. "I need to sit down…"

Axel looked positively faint as he plopped himself down on the hard linoleum floor. Demyx looked at Axel with concern and knelt down next to him; a few passing students spared them strange looks.

"Uh, you okay man?" asked Demyx, eyeing Axel cautiously, "What? Is Riku like… a total ass or something?"

"Riku?" asked Axel, he looked at Demyx blearily, "Riku is… He's… He's my boyfriend."

"What?" Demyx blinked, he smacked Axel upside the head, "You loser! You never told me you got a boyfriend!" Axel shook his head.

"Shh, Riku doesn't know yet," said Axel, Demyx stared at Axel for a good minute as if he couldn't quite believe what the redhead had just said. When Axel continued to remain solemn, Demyx shook his head.

"What do you mean he doesn't know he's your boyfriend?" asked Demyx, not quite sure if he wanted an answer.

"He's _going _to be my boyfriend," said Axel, putting emphasis on the "going". Demyx gawked.

"Well," he said, snapping out of his trance, "I-… I guess… Well you do seem confidant at least and er… That's good I guess," Demyx looked at Axel again, "Are you going to ask him out then?"

"Not yet," said Axel, shaking his head a little, fiery spikes swaying, "you don't understand… A guy can't just go up to Riku Ishida and ask him out…"

"Uh, why not? Is he like, straight or something? Homophobic?" asked Demyx, once again he was positive he didn't want to know but alas… Curiosity killed the cat. Axel mulled over his words for a while.

"You just… You just can't do that sort of thing with him…" Axel frowned thoughtfully, "I mean, if I just up and asked him out, I'd get mauled or butchered on the spot…" Now Demyx was _really_ sure he didn't want to know, or need to know for that matter.

"What do you mean 'butchered'?" asked Demyx.

"It's complicated," said Axel, gesturing vaguely, "When you meet him, you'll understand…" Demyx sighed exasperatedly.

"Why? What? Come on Axel, just tell me now," whined Demyx, tugging on the redheaded man's arm appealingly. Axel bit his lip.

"Let's just say I have competition."

"What?" asked Demyx, taken aback, "What do you mean? Is there some other guy that likes him?" Demyx cocked his head curiously.

"Not guy," said Axel, grinning at Demyx, "Guys. Plural. More than one."

"What does he have a fan club or something?" asked Demyx, "He can't be _that_ popular. How many guys?"

Axel thought on it a bit, counted on his fingers… "Oh, I don't know… I'd suppose, only counting the guys who are actually a part of the competition," Here Demyx resisted the urge to snort. _Competition? Oh please… _"I'd say, myself included, about five or so…"

Demyx blinked, "Well, that's actually… I mean, what do you mean by 'competition'?" he asked, "Because if there are just five guys that happen to _like_ him that's not that big a deal but… Yeah. Competition?"

Axel looked at Demyx seriously, "You'd be surprised how competitive we can get." Demyx frowned. This Riku, whoever he was, sounded like a slut. _Well, he must be pretty good looking if Axel likes him._

"Alright, well come on," said Demyx, pulling Axel up to his feet by the arm, "let's get my stuff to my room."

As the two of them began making their way to Demyx's dorm room, Axel suddenly realized that his _friend _was rooming with _Riku._ Axel was a pretty good speller. In fact he could spell _score_. He could even spell _jackpot_ quite well too. Suppressing the urge to squeal he looked at Demyx, smiling surreptitiously. Demyx returned the look warily.

"What is it, Axel?" he asked.

"You're rooming with Riku," said Axel. His voice had acquired a rather creepy, honey-coated tone to it. Whatever it was, it scared the living shit out of Demyx. The blonde man fought the urge to shudder and instead rolled his eyes at Axel.

"Yes, we established that fact Axel," he said dryly. Axel's grin stretched even wider across his face, displaying teeth.

"So if you're gonna be living with him," said Axel slowly, voice still just as insinuating as ever, "that means you'll get lots of opportunities to talk about… Oh… I don't know… Me?" Demyx gaped at Axel incredulously.

"You want me to set you up with him?" he asked, disbelievingly.

"Well," Axel hummed innocently and bounced on the balls of his feet, "…Yes?" Spotting the look on Demyx's face he quickly added, "Just bring me up here and there! Come on Demyx, you have no idea how much that'd help me! You don't know what my competition is like!" Demyx resisted the urge to laugh at his friend's animated begging.

"Fine," he sighed.

"YAY!!!" cheered Axel, throwing up his arms (this was quite a feet considering he was still holding many of Demyx's things), and hugged Demyx from behind, "Have I ever told you that I love you?" he tilted his head at Demyx, a smile planted on his face that was uncannily akin to one the Mad Hatter might wear.

Demyx shrugged Axel off, "Cut it out."

Axel slid off Demyx like oil, a sleazy look on his face, "Yeesh, you're in a super grouchy mood today."

Demyx bit back a retort.

oOoOo

"Well, let's go!" cried Demyx gaily (oh shut up and have some maturity, I hear you all snickering), he grabbed Axel's arm and gave a great tug. Axel stumbled. He looked around at all the boxes and suitcases he and Demyx had just hauled up to the blonde's dorm room.

"Go? Where? Shouldn't you unpack first?"

Demyx rolled his eyes, "You have to give me a tour of the school! Duh," he added sarcastically, "Maybe we'll run into Riku."

Although he had never met Riku, Demyx's image of the guy had already been spoiled by Axel's constant talk of "competition". After all, Demyx was under the impression that anyone who could get five guys to compete over him like a pack of brainwashed monkeys must be some sort of provocative slut. In Demyx's mind, Riku was blonde, wore short shorts, eyeliner, midriff bearing shirts… etc.

All in all, Demyx was expecting a guy who was the exact opposite of shy, bashful or modest.

"Omigosh! There he is," Axel latched onto Demyx's arm and jabbed his finger at said future boyfriend repeatedly. Demyx followed the direction of Axel's eagerly pointing finger and blinked; suddenly finding himself at a loss for words. It seemed, to put it bluntly, Riku was not a slut.

Instead of the wild blonde hair Demyx had been expecting, there was straight silver hair. _Very pretty silver hair…_ And instead of eyeliner, Riku's face was devoid of make-up and fake colors. In fact, Demyx found Riku had rather nice eyes, they were somewhere between green and blue. It was hard to tell which. _But it's a really great color…_ And Riku's clothing was also of course quite normal. Jeans, a black tee shirt… Nothing out of the ordinary._ But they still look super cute on him…_

A strange snarling noise alerted Demyx to Axel's continued presence. He turned to stare at his friend's face. Axel was glowering not at Riku, Demyx noted as his eyes followed Axel's, but at the man standing next to Riku.

Demyx examined the guy; he assumed this guy was part of Axel's greatly hated "competition". The first thing that caught Demyx's attention was the mystery man's eyes. They were storm grey and very intimidating. The man was also wearing leather. Lots of leather. But damn if it didn't look good… And the black colors really complimented his chocolate locks of hair.

Sparing Axel a glance, Demyx couldn't help but think that his gangly friend didn't stand a chance. Not compared to this leather-god of a brunette who simply oozed sex. Demyx shook his head, now he was being unreasonable.

"Hey Riku!" cried Axel, the man had suddenly hitched a very welcoming, friendly grin on his face, but a second later the grin was gone and Axel was staring at the brunette man beside Riku solemnly, "Leon," he said, nodding in acknowledgement.

The guy-Leon- nodded back, "Axel."

It was a rather dramatic scene, thought Demyx. He and Axel were standing halfway down a flight of stairs, both of them watching Riku and Leon. Riku and Leon were standing at the bottom of said flight of stairs, eyeing Axel and Demyx. Riku was the first to break the silence.

"Hi Axel," he said cheerfully, "it's great to see you again. How was your summer?"

"It was good," said Axel, scratching the back of his head, he sent a grin towards the shorter one, "this is Demyx," he added gesturing towards the blonde at his side, "he's a friend of mine, he went to the community college last year to save up for this one… What about you Leon? Did ya have a good summer?"

"Nothing special," replied the other man swiftly.

Demyx glanced between the two uneasily, Leon was staring at Axel as though he wanted to do nothing more than rip those red spikes off Axel's head and shove them up his ass. Axel was glaring at Leon as though he had the deep and burning desire to castrate the taller man.

Riku seemed oblivious to the interaction going on between the two men, instead he continued talking to Demyx amicably, completely unaware of the "death vibes" being sent through the air. Demyx wondered vaguely if Riku really did know what was going on with Leon and Axel, and maybe the silver haired male was just trying to lighten the mood by ignoring it.

Or then again, maybe he was just that naïve.

In any case, Demyx found himself talking back, just as happily. And he was just about to go down the rest of the stairs and help Riku get his stuff up to his dorm room when he tripped.

And fell. Down the stairs. Lots of stairs. It hurt too.

And so it was, Demyx found himself lying in a crumpled heap on the foot of the stairs, staring up at Riku and Leon, smiling sheepishly. Leon raised his eyebrows but did not say anything. Riku however leaned down and offered a hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked, suppressing laughter.

"Yeah," said Demyx, grimacing as the back of his head panged from the spot it'd been hit, "happens all the time. I'm used to it."

"Klutz," said Axel, grinning.

"Well it was nice meeting you," said Riku, "I gotta get going though… I need to go find my new dorm… Leon's helping me unpack."

Leon grunted and pulled the luggage he had been carrying up. He grunted again under the weight. Demyx had a sinking suspicion that Leon was making the load seem heavier than it was… Probably to remind Riku that he was doing the silver haired man a great favor.

Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Demyx stepped forward and said, "Here, let me help too, it'll be easier that way. And besides, we _are_ sharing a dorm."

Riku blinked and looked down at the paper in his hands containing the information for his new year at Xehanort, "Oh!" he exclaimed, "That's right… Heh. I didn't even bother to look at who I was rooming with. Thanks for the help," he added as Demyx took one of the two bags he was carrying.

Meanwhile, Axel was taking one of the three bags Leon had been carrying, "Aw, aren't you going to thank me, _Squall_?" asked Axel in an undertone (so that Riku wouldn't hear), he flashed Leon a triumphant smirk. The sound of Leon's teeth grinding filled the air. Axel's smirk grew, "Temper, temper…"

oOoOo

"What do you think Axel and Leon are doing?" asked Riku as he unpacked a suitcase full of clothes.

At Riku's words, Demyx's mind was filled with an image of Leon and Axel behind the school, dueling with swords. Some people would say Demyx had an overactive imagination. In this case, however, he had to admit his prediction seemed strangely accurate.

Outwardly, the blonde shrugged, "Probably greeting other friends."

"I guess," said Riku, folding a t-shirt neatly in his drawer, "Leon's probably met up with Cloud by now."

Demyx looked up, "Who's Cloud?"

"A friend of his, he's really nice, kinda moody though," said Riku thoughtfully, "All of Cloud's friends tease him about 'PMS-sing', all the time. He's got this straw blonde hair that's really spiky. He's not as tall as Leon though. About Axel's height I think…"

Demyx nodded, he eyed Riku, "Is he a… friend of yours?"

"Hm? Yeah, he talks to me a lot," said Riku.

"What about Axel and Leon? They your friends too?" asked Demyx keenly.

Riku nodded, "Oh yeah, they're really nice. Axel's funny."

Demyx grinned, "Yeah he is, I'm funny too," he added, indifferently.

"You think so huh?"

"Well, I'm having a bad day today…"

"Right."

"Hey! I am!"

"Okay, Demyx…"

"So, are Leon, Axel and Cloud all friends?" asked Demyx shrewdly. He still couldn't tell if Riku was purposefully ignoring the rivalry going on between Axel and Leon. Riku seemed to take a little time to think over his answer.

"Actually," he mused, "Leon and Cloud may be good friends but… I don't know, I just get the feeling Leon and Axel don't like each other very much."

Demyx snorted.

"What?" asked Riku, looking at Demyx.

Demyx shook his head, chuckling some more, "It's nothing… Does Axel get along with Cloud well though?"

Once again, Riku seemed to consider his answer, "Actually no. Axel doesn't really like Leon _or_ Cloud. I guess he thinks they're too depressing."

Demyx hmmed and continued unpacking his things, he wondered if Cloud was possibly a part of the competition involving Riku's love interests. Though he doubted it, it could very well be that Axel only disliked Cloud because he was friends with Leon. And it seemed unlikely that a guy as competitive as Leon would be friend to any of his rivals.

Demyx had no doubt that eventually he would come to meet all of the guys currently involved in said competition. After all, he was sharing a room with the prize. Demyx cringed at the thought, _"Prize"… Ugh, they're treating him like an object… Not that he's noticed… _Demyx glanced at Riku. It really did appear that Riku had no idea there were five perfectly eligible guys competing for his attention.

"Wow," said Riku, eyeing Demyx's side of the room, "that's a lot of posters…"

Demyx shrugged as he tacked up a _Switchfoot_ poster, "I like music."

Riku smiled amusedly before getting back to his things.

For a while the two men continued to set up their side of the dorm in silence. Each one content with their work. Riku took his time to arrange things in their proper places. Demyx just sort of put stuff anywhere it would fit, so that the result was a rather cluttered and haphazard looking lofty space.

After some time had passed, Demyx looked over to see how Riku was doing… But paused when he caught something yellow and white out of the corner of his eye.

"What's that?" he asked. Riku jumped and quickly hid whatever it was behind his back.

"What's what?" he asked.

"That," said Demyx gesturing at Riku, "that thing behind your back. What is it?"

Riku hesitated, "Promise you won't laugh?" Demyx nodded. Riku heaved a sigh and pulled the object out into the open, "This is Namine."

…

Demyx blinked.

…

It was a doll. A plushy. A toy.

Riku flushed, "I've had her since I was like… Nine… ish."

Demyx blinked stupidly, "It's a doll," he stated blankly.

Riku's flush deepened, "Uh, yeah… Look, sorry if it's weird to you it's just… She's… Special… Anyways, you don't have a problem with me keeping her out do you?"

Demyx shook his head, inwardly contemplating what Axel would do if he found out Riku had a doll… _He'd probably say it was cute actually,_ mused Demyx, _but I bet Leon would think it's stupid…_

He wasn't quite sure whether or not he was allowed to tell Axel about Namine. Riku hadn't specified if the information he had just revealed to Demyx was "classified". Though somehow, Demyx doubted Riku would want people know he kept a doll.

"Thanks," said Riku, after Demyx had assured him that he had no problem with Namine, "my old roommate from last year told me she was creeping him out and I had to keep her in my bag." Riku looked slightly put out at the memory of this act of injustice.

Demyx smirked, "How cruel."

Riku narrowed his eyes at the blonde, "It was cruel! She was miserable in that bag!"

Demyx stared. Riku blinked, realizing a little too late that he had just spoken that aloud…

And blushed.

Demyx smirked, "…She was… miserable?"

Riku hissed, "Y- You--!" He spluttered for a moment before snatching up a pillow and chucking it at Demyx's head. It hit its mark, dead center.

Chuckling as he picked up the fallen throw pillow (It's a pun!!! Get it? It's a _throw_ pillow, and Riku _threw_ it! Ha-…Yeah.), Demyx tossed it lightly onto Riku's bed. Riku was sitting cross-legged on his bed, looking thoroughly flustered.

oOoOo

It had, overall, been a rather eventful first day at college for Demyx. He'd unpacked, met up with his new roommate and of course he now found himself smack-dab in the middle of a competition for said roommate's heart.

Looking up from his computer, where he'd been chatting with his second cousin Seifer in a chatroom, he turned to Riku who was sitting curled up in one corner of his bed, reading a book entitled _Amazing Grace_. Namine was perched on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over the edge, her arms hanging limply at her side.

Removing his head phones so that they hung around his neck, Demyx tilted his head so that his view of the room was flipped on its side.

"Riku, I'm _bored_," he whined, closing up the chatroom window on the computer, he eyed Riku pathetically. Riku merely looked up from his book, one eyebrow raised delicately.

"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked coldly.

Demyx simpered, "I don't know… Amuse me?" spotting the look on Riku's face he quickly sobered his expression, "Aw come on Riku… Hey! I know! We should get to know each other better!"

Riku took in Demyx's expression, childlike glee, wide eyes brimming with bliss. He sighed; folding a corner of the page he was on and put the book down. He moved to sit on the edge of his bed. Leaning forward he asked,

"And just how do you want to go about doing that?"

It took less than a second for Demyx to think of an answer, "Let's play Twenty Questions!" He exclaimed, as he completely removed his headphones from his neck. Riku blanched.

"Twenty questions?" He asked skeptically. Demyx nodded eagerly, "What are you twelve?" Demyx's smile faded, only to be replaced by a quivering lower lip.

Riku sighed. This was going to be an interesting year.

"Fine, fine," he said wearily, "you first."

Demyx smiled at having gotten what he wanted, smugly he said, "Okay, um…" He thought about it for a moment, "What's your favorite color?"

Riku raised his brows but answered, "White," nonetheless.

Demyx blinked, he took in Riku's all back pajamas, his quiet demeanor, "White? Why?"

"Are you allowed to ask me 'why'?" asked Riku, Demyx frowned.

"Of course! How else am I supposed to get to know you?"

Riku sighed, "I like white because… It's clean. And simple. And it's… Hope."

Demyx blinked, taken off guard by how deep Riku's answer was, he grinned before saying, "Great! My favorite color's blue! Okay, okay," he said quickly, waving his hands around, "Next question from me, uh…

"What's your birthday?" he asked.

"May fourteenth," came the simple response.

Demyx nodded, "Mine's November twenty-first, uh… Hm… Do you have any siblings?"

It was obvious Demyx had just asked something he wasn't supposed to for Riku had winced as soon as the question reached his ears, unconsciously pulling Namine close to himself. Demyx felt concern bubbling up inside him.

"Um…" Riku shifted uncomfortably and Demyx decided, firmly, that this was not open for discussion at the moment. Maybe later on in the year, when he and Riku had gotten to know each other better.

Waving a hand airily he said, "Nevermind. Let's see here… Um… Do you play any instruments?"

"Just piano," said Riku, shrugging, "my parents made me learn," he added quietly.

Demyx sighed, he wasn't really making any headway here when it came to actually getting to know Riku… He wondered vaguely what Axel would ask Riku if he was playing this game with him…

…

He grinned.

"Have you ever had sex?"

To Demyx's great surprise, Riku did not shout, "No!", he did not splutter in shock at being asked such a pointless question… Instead he only blushed, looking at the floor intently, as though fascinated by the fake wood flooring.

"Riku?"

Riku, clearly reluctant to give an answer, looked at the wall, "…Yes."

Demyx looked positively agog, "Really?"

Riku nodded, bangs swishing with the movement.

"With a…?" Demyx let it hang.

"A guy," said Riku, turning even redder still, "an older guy."

"Oh," said Demyx dumbly, he wondered what Axel would think if he knew… He'd probably think it was wildly sexy, and so would Leon and the others for that matter… _But if they could see Riku's face right now_, thought Demyx eyeing Riku… The guy looked uncomfortable.

"Did uh," Demyx began, pausing to clear his throat, "did you date him?"

"No," said Riku, and it was evident from his pale features that he wished he had, "we met at a party it was… A one night thing…"

"Oh," said Demyx, wishing he could think of something else to say.

"…Yeah," said Riku uneasily, "I-… I don't know… I thought it could've been more, I mean, he seemed like a nice guy… In fact if it weren't for his… Fiancé… Something could've come out of it…"

"Whoa- wait," said Demyx, holding up a hand, his vocabulary coming back to him, "His what?"

Riku hid his gaze expertly behind his bangs, "His name was Irvine… He's bisexual… And he was getting married. He must've gotten cold feet though night before the big day because he went to that party to pick someone- pick _me_ up and well… The morning after his future wife, some lady name Rinoa, walked in on us and…" Riku shook his head.

"I felt so bad once I'd realized what I'd done," he admitted guiltily, "I probably ruined their marriage… I-… I've never seen anyone so angry in my life… She just started throwing stuff across the room at me while Irvine tried to calm her down…"

"It's not your fault," said Demyx bluntly, "Irvine was the one who went and screwed up his relationship… You didn't know."

"I shouldn't have gotten so drunk," protested Riku, clutching Namine tightly, "I shouldn't have gone with him…"

"Riku, you could never have known," said Demyx firmly, "don't be so hard on yourself."

"I guess…" said Riku, though it was plain he didn't mean it. Demyx frowned, looking at the clock and realizing how late it was, he decided they'd done enough bonding for the night.

"Well," he said, hitching back up a smile, "it's getting late… We should try and get some sleep! Tomorrow's our first day of classes!" He promptly fell backwards into his bed as soon as the statement left his mouth.

Riku smiled a small, but genuine, smile before he too rolled over and pulled the covers up to his chin.

"See ya tomorrow."

"'Night."

**Author's Note:** It'll get better from here on out. Trust me. This chapter was just sort of setting the stage for the future…

I'm very sorry for the long wait everybody. I'm having a really hard time over here though. This chapter was a killer to right… Because of all the shit I'm going through I just wasn't up to writing much… So my writing in here is definetly not as good as it could be.

And plus it was not exactly easy for me to physically write this either. A while back I threw out my shoulders. And then after that I had to get a minor operation, thus I was too sore to type well.

All in all, I'm miserable. Life is being a bitch to me at the moment and I could really use some encouragement people.

sadness


	3. Rivals in Love

[Chapter Two: Rivals in Love

**Pre-Author's Note:** Urgh, corny title… Whatever… Anyways, to those of you who have been wondering about the title… If you listen to the song "Macarena" there's one line where the lyrics go: "They all want me, they can't have me. So they all come and dance beside me." So, it fits The Riku Competition (as I've dubbed it). ;P Awesome ne? I know, I amaze myself sometimes… -sighs- Such genius.

Sorry about the wait. I hope this chapter will make up for it. I think I've kicked my laziness in the ass for the time being too. Huzzah! Gatorade did the trick. :P

**Disclaimer:** What up dog? Not much… I still don't own anything 'cept this green popsicle… What's your popsicle's name? …Bob.

oOoOo

When Demyx woke up that morning it was to the sound of his alarm clock (A _Finding Nemo_ themed monstrosity that shouted "Wake up! Wake up!" at an atrociously high pitch). He groaned and rolled over. He was still tired… And the blankets were so warm… An extra thirty minutes wouldn't hurt…

"Demyx, _wake _UP!"

And that was when Demyx felt something soft and feathery collide with his head.

"Whazzat?" he slurred, sitting up, one hand trying to block his face from further assault, the other propping him up. Through his bleary sleep crusted eyes he saw a black and silver haze swirling in front of him. After several seconds of blinking and rubbing at his eyes he discovered that the swirly haze was in fact his room mate; armed with a pillow.

Well, that explained what had hit him.

He blinked at Riku, disoriented from having been woken up so abruptly, "Wha?" was all he managed to get out.

"_Wha?_" mocked Riku, "Is that all you can manage?"

Somewhere in his sleep fogged brain Demyx managed to grasp the fact that he had just been insulted "Well-…" He started, searching his mind for a comeback, "well-… Well you're _short_."

Riku bristled, "Well if that's the thanks I get for trying to wake you up in time for your first class then-

"My _what_?!" Demyx shouted, shooting up straight in bed, the comfort of his blankets and mattress forgotten in his state of frenzied panic.

"Your first class," said Riku, "It starts in like six minutes, and it's practically on the other side of the building."

"How'd you know what class I have?" asked Demyx, momentarily distracted.

Riku pulled out Demyx's schedule in a bored fashion; he waved it mockingly in front of Demyx's face a few times, "This was on your bag. I wanted to see when your class was before I went and woke you up. Like I said, you have about five minutes now."

Demyx bolted out of his bed, practically ripping his pajamas off in his haste; too panicked to care that Riku was in the room and watching him.

Riku stared. He had to admit, watching Demyx try to get out of his pajamas while trying to brush his teeth and pull on a t-shirt all at the same time _was _amusing. But when Demyx started choking on his toothbrush (he'd shoved it down his throat by accident), got his head stuck in his shirt (the shirt was preventing the toothbrush from coming out), and tripped over his pajama pants (which were pooled around his ankles) Riku decided that he had to intervene.

He sighed wearily, almost like a mother would, and pulled the tee off Demyx's head for a moment. Girding himself for what was to come, he gritted his teeth before plunging his hand into Demyx's mouth and yanking out a very wet tooth brush.

"Euch!" he cried, tossing the tooth brush in the bathroom sink and running hot water over it, "Ew…"

After coughing a few times to rectify whatever damage the toothbrush had evoked, Demyx looked over at Riku and rasped a quick, "Thanks."

Riku shrugged, "Whatever," he said before picking Demyx's t-shirt (it was a nice shade of red, with some band or other's logo) up off the floor and pulling it over the blonde's head.

"Uh, what exactly are you doing?" asked Demyx, happy the t-shirt was (for the moment) hiding the blush on his face.

"I'm helping you get dressed," said Riku, and once the shirt was pulled all the way down Demyx could see that the silver haired boy was also faintly blushing, "You're _hopeless_ on your own… Here!" he added, tossing a pair of jeans to Demyx as the sitar player kicked off his pajamas.

"Don't you have a class?" asked Demyx shrewdly, all too aware of the fact that Riku was watching him get dressed. Riku shook his head.

"I don't have a morning class today," he said simply, continueing to stare; Demyx had a surprisingly _nice_ body…

Demyx fought the flush off his face, trying to pull on his pants as fast as possible. In his haste, his hands fumbled over the zipper in the front.

Riku, now scarlet in the face, walked over to him, "Do I have to do _everything_ myself?" he asked before he, yes indeed, zipped up Demyx's pants.

"Thanks," said Demyx, blushing madly. Riku was refusing to meet his eyes.

"No problem," he stuttered, sitting back down on his bed and taking out _Amazing Grace _again. He shifted uncomfortably, "Someone has to help you out."

An awkward silence stretched between the two of them, finally after a minute or so, Riku looked up at Demyx with raised brows.

"Aren't you going to go to your class?"

…

"OMIGOD!"

oOoOo

Leon and Cloud were walking down the hall at leisure. Cloud had a class to go to, but it was okay, he was going to be way early anyways. The blonde had always liked being extra early on first days. It was a quirk of his. Leon however, didn't have a class for another hour and so was taking advantage of the time to walk with Cloud to his class.

Not because he was being all romantic or anything, just because they were friends. They had tried dating at one point or another but it hadn't worked out (they'd discovered that they were both a little too miserable for each other).

Just then, a blonde guy with his hair fashioned in a mohawk/mullet hybrid came stumbling into their line of vision. This sort of thing was, of course, very typical for a first day. People were still trying to get used to waking up early after their long summers full of sleeping in late. Not to mention the new arrivals to Xehanort academy often got lost trying to figure out where the classrooms were.

Leon was just about to offer the blonde (who he remembered as Demyx from the other day) some help finding his class when he heard a very familiar voice calling out from behind him.

"Demyx! Hey, Demyx!"

Cloud and Leon turned to see Riku running up from behind them. Cloud was just about to raise a hand in greeting when Riku rushed right by them and-

Wait!

Riku did not just _rush by them_. No. No, that sort of thing didn't happen. Riku didn't just ignore Leon and Cloud…

Did he?

Why yes, yes, he just did.

"Demyx!" Riku panted, bending over once he'd caught up with the taller of the two, "You… Forgot… your stuff…"

"Oh!" Demyx blinked, "Oh that's right, gee thanks Riku."

He grabbed the backpack and slung it over one of his shoulders, his expression darkened however when he returned his attention to his schedule.

"Oh Gods, I'm _so _lost…" He moaned.

"You're pathetic," said Riku, but it was in a good-natured fashion, "here let me see…"

Leon and Cloud watched from afar as Riku leaned close (_very_ close) to Demyx and peered at his schedule, softly giving Demyx directions to his first few classes. Leon's eyes narrowed. So busy was Leon with his glaring and his angsting that he did not notice the way Cloud's eyes had narrowed just as much as his.

"Leon," said Cloud in a tight, pissed off voice, "who is that?"

"That," snarled Leon, "would be Demyx… Riku's roommates."

Cloud's eyes widened, he turned to Leon, "Are you serious? They're sharing a room?"

"Yes," was the curt reply.

The both of them returned their attention to Riku and Demyx, Demyx was practically on his knees thanking Riku for all the help. Riku was trying to shrug off all the compliments in a would-be-bored fashion, however the light blush marring his features gave him away.

Cloud closed his eyes tightly. Demyx and Riku… Sharing a room. God. Just _God._

"Bye, Demyx!" called Riku, waving after the hurrying blonde even though Demyx couldn't see the gesture. When Riku turned around to return to the room he noticed Leon and Cloud for the first time (_Finally_, thought Cloud).

Riku smiled at them and headed their way, Leon and Cloud walked forward to meet him, "Hey you guys," said Riku, "How was your summer? Cloud?"

Cloud smiled back at him, "It was pretty good. My sister's engaged, but other than that not much happened."

"Your sister? Aerith?" asked Riku, tilting his head to the side. Cloud felt his heart swell with the assurance that Riku had remembered, "To that Zack guy right?"

"Yeah," said Cloud, a small sense of relief washing over him. After all, he shouldn't worry too much, this Demyx guy was _pathetic_, "Yeah, you remembered."

"Of course," said Riku, before turning to Leon, "what about you Leon? You said your summer was kinda dull… Didn't _anything_ happen?"

"You guys already talked?" asked Cloud, looking at Leon interestedly, unable to stop the swell of accusation rising in him.

"Yeah, when Leon was helping me unpack yesterday," said Riku, clarifying on behalf of Leon, "Thanks again for that by the way," he added to the brunette.

"It was nothing," said Leon, shrugging off-handedly, "Anyways, my summer was literally boring as all hell," he rolled his eyes, "the most exciting moment would have to be when I tried to teach Cloud how to cook."

Cloud's eyes widened, he glared at Leon, "Hey! Don't bring that up in front of him! It's not my fault I can't cook to save my life!"

"My friend Sora can't cook either," said Riku, "he's a total dork."

Leon nodded, "Yeah, you've told us about him. And anyways Cloud stop making such a fuss, Riku already knew about your inadequacy in the kitchen."

Cloud fold his arms and downright pouted for a moment before switching off to just plain sulking. Leon chuckled while Riku laughed.

"So how did the cooking lessons go?" he asked.

Something in that question caused something to click in Cloud's mind, he looked up, dread filling him, "Lessons… Oh shit, I'm late!" he wailed before dashing off down a nearby hallway.

Leon shook his head and sighed, "What are we going to do with him?"

"Well unfortunately we can't just abandon him," said Riku, "he'd starve."

"True that," said Leon sagely.

"So how _did _the cooking classes go?" asked Riku keenly.

Leon snorted, "It's Cloud, how well do you think it went?"

"…Yeah. Did he manage to make _anything_?"

"Yes."

Riku blinked in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What?"

A smile stretched across Leon's face, "He managed to make… toast."

Riku stared at Leon for about three seconds before bursting into laughter.

"That's… That's so sad…" he finally managed to get out after several minutes of non-stop laughter.

"I know," agreed Leon amiably, "but that's Cloud."

"I guess so," said Riku, a little breathless from his laughing fit.

"So," began Leon once silence had settled between them, "how's your schedule looking?"

"Pretty good," said Riku, "I don't have any morning classes on Monday… God must love me."

"That _is _pretty lucky," said Leon, "I have a class in like thirty minutes… How's the roommate?"

"Oh Demyx?" asked Riku, Leon nodded, "He's great. He's like a slightly more childish, _**way**_ more hopeless version of Axel. But yeah, he's really nice."

"I see," said Leon, frowning inwardly, "well my roommate's okay. I think he's a friend of yours… Zexion or something like that…"

"Oh yeah, he's cool," said Riku, bobbing his head and smiling, "you two are going to get along just great. He's got a boyfriend in another town named Lexaeus."

Here Riku paused and Leon let out a breath of relief. He had enough competition as it was without this Zexion guy getting thrown into the mix…

And now this _Demyx_ character…

It was clear that someone was out to get Leon and ruin every aspect of his life.

"So have you seen Axel much?" asked Leon.

Riku thought for a moment, "No, not yet anyway. I only got to say hi to him yesterday when you were helping me get my stuff to my room," he said, sending Leon a grateful smile.

Leon smiled and nodded, "And… What about Denzel?"

Riku shook his head, "I haven't seen him yet. I figure I'll run into him sooner or later though…"

"And Marluxia?"

"Yeah."

Leon turned to face Riku, "Really?"

Riku looked at Leon weirdly, "Yeah… What's the big deal? I mean… He's my friend and all."

Leon shrugged, "So when did you see him?"

"Yesterday, after I'd gotten all my stuff organized I walked around campus and I met up with Marluxia," explained Riku, obviously confused by Leon's interest.

"So… What did he say?" asked Leon.

"I don't know, we were just talking… Why are you so curious?" asked Riku.

"Just wondering," said Leon, waving a hand airily, he checked the time on his cell, "I should get ready for class. See you around Riku."

He walked away, waving a hand over his shoulder casually and out of the corner of his eye he saw Riku wave back and smile. He grinned to himself. Demyx was a hapless dork with the attention span of a gnat. Axel was a skinny, spineless drama queen. Marluxia was a whiny, vain little princess. And apparently Zexion was taken, so Leon didn't even have to worry about him anymore.

And then there was Denzel. The only real competition Leon had (in his mind anyway). But anyways, Leon could trump Denzel any day.

All in all, Leon was pretty confident that he had this thing in the bag.

There was just one problem with Leon's reasoning.

He, blinded by friendship, had not noticed the way Cloud's eyes followed Riku. He had not noticed the way Cloud's hand lingered on Riku's arm whenever the silver haired one would crash into him (for Riku was prone to crashing into people). He had also not really considered the fact that Cloud often times mad plans to meet Riku without Leon.

Sure he _knew_ that Riku and Cloud hung out together a lot, but he'd never really thought much of it. After all, although Cloud and Leon didn't discuss their romantic interests much, Leon had always just assumed that Cloud just _knew_ Leon liked Riku because it was so _obvious_. So naturally he'd always thought Cloud only hung out with Riku because they were friends.

Many people thought that Leon and Cloud were very alike. But only the people who didn't know them too well said that. Anyone who did really know them knew that for one thing Cloud was a lot more paranoid than Leon.

Now, for a long time, Cloud had labored under the impression that Leon was just friends with Riku. But recently, paranoia had forced him to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Leon liked Riku too.

And so to Leon the competition was between him, Marluxia, Denzel, Axel and Demyx.

To Cloud, it was himself, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Denzel and Leon too now.

Of course, news of Zexion's new boyfriend had started spreading so it was only a matter of time before everyone realized that no, Zexion was no longer in the running.

oOoOo

Riku sighed; it was turning out to be a good year so far. He had a good roommate, plenty of friends, and his schedule was looking good. In the end, he was pretty happy summer was over. It had been a long one for him.

After all, his friends from back home were really curious concerning Riku's first year of college as he was the oldest in the group and the first to go through it. One of the first things Tidus had asked him was whether or not there had been a lot of gays and lesbians making out on campus.

Because they'd lived their whole lives on the sheltered Islands Sora and the others had initially been shocked when Riku had chosen to attend Xehanort. It was so far from home… And it was the kind of college that focused mostly on the arts. _And_ it was known for being an incredibly open-minded school. Meaning that the establishment was open towards basically any race, gender, sexuality, or anything else you could think of. Naturally it all seemed so interesting (and slightly unnerving) to Sora, Kairi, Wakka, Tidus and Selphie.

Riku was just considering heading back to his dorm for a while when he spotted two very familiar heads of hair.

"Olette! Denzel!" he called, jumping up and waving the two down. The two turned and smiled when they spotted him.

"Riku!" cheered Olette, promptly wrapping him in a hug, "It's great to see you! I missed you over the summer."

"Hey Riku," said Denzel, one hand held loosely in his pocket the other resting at his side. _Nice and casual_, he thought to himself, "Good summer?"

Riku shrugged, "Eh, it was okay I guess… A little long though… I kinda missed the school y'know?" He smiled, "What about you?"

"Great," said Denzel, flashing his best smile, "My parents and I took a trip to Europe. It was awesome."

"Europe?" Riku's eyes widened, "Wow, that's so cool. What was it like?"

"Gorgeous," said Denzel simply, "That's really the only word for it."

"I was so jealous when he told me," said Olette, shooting an envious look at Denzel, "I didn't go _anywhere_ this summer…"

"Me either," said Riku.

Olette eyed him shrewdly, "You're friends and family still don't know you're gay do they?" she accused. Riku wilted under her glare, he swore she was psychic.

"I can't just tell them!" he wailed, "I mean, they were weirded out enough when they heard I wanted to come to this school! What with its reputation and all…"

Denzel gave Riku a sympathetic look, "I guess I'd be scared to tell them too if I were in your situation," he admitted, Riku gave him a grateful look, "But you know, they really should know…"

"I guess," said Riku, looking distinctly downcast, he sighed, "But I was thinking… Nevermind."

"What?" Olette tilted her head.

"I just thought… Maybe it'd be easier if… I don't know… If I had someone with me when I told them. You know what I mean?" Riku scuffed his shoe on the ground, sticking his hands in his pockets morosely.

"I can see your reasoning," said Denzel, "but I'm not sure if that's the best solution. I mean, if you tell them that you're gay and you have a boyfriend all at once, that'd be a bit of a shock."

Riku rolled his eyes at himself, "I know you're right… I guess I'm just trying to procrastinate huh? Besides it's not like there's anyone who's actually interested in me…"

As soon as the words left his mouth Denzel entered a well disguised laughing fit. Olette however had been taken by surprise and instead just plain old burst out laughing. Riku peered at them strangely.

"What?" he asked.

"It's nothing," said Olette whipping tears of mirth from her eyes, she sent a meaningful look at Denzel; who suddenly looked slightly nervous.

"I gotta get going," said Denzel abruptly, he patted Riku on the shoulder before waving to both of them and walking away, backpack slung over his shoulder in a pseudo casual fashion. Riku blinked, by this point he was beyond confused. He turned to Olette.

"What was that about?"

Olette chuckled, patting Riku on the arm, "Nothing Riku, don't worry about it."

"Um, okay…" Riku's voice trailed off as Olette said her good byes and turned to get ready for a class. Riku shook his head, well there was one thing about this new school year that was a little off; people were acting really weird. First Leon and now those two…

He sighed; it was time to start preparing for his first class anyway.

oOoOo

"Leon's really pulling all stops this year."

Marluxia turned around and glared at his mutual friend Yuna.

"But at least you don't have to worry about Zexion anymore," added Yuna weakly when she spotted the look on his face. Marluxia sighed prettily, as painfully obvious as Yuna could be sometimes, she was right. Marluxia was quickly losing footing to Leon. And they'd only been on campus for two days!

"Don't you think I know that?" he asked her, slumping forward in his seat pathetically. The two of them had a class together at the moment; the professor had stepped out for the time being. And of course, being who she was, Yuna just had to use this moment of freedom to inform Marluxia that he was losing the battle for Riku.

Yuna flinched at his tone, "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine, I'm just… Kinda pissed," Marluxia said wearily, he was tired. It had been a long and stressful summer for him, needless to say he had been initially glad to be back. That is until he'd spotted Leon carrying Riku's thing for him like some sort of leather clad man-slave.

"It's understandable," Yuna was eyeing him knowingly out of the corner of her eye, "how's your cousin doing?"

Marluxia winced at the mention of his cousin, "Eh, she's okay… She's recovering alright but I think she's still really upset about the miscarriage…" he said in a voice that said quite plainly that he didn't want to be talking about this. Yuna nodded sympathetically.

"Well," she said, "things'll work out soon, you'll see."

Marluxia opened his mouth to respond just when the teacher walked into th room. Marluxia sighed as he fell into the usual first-day-back pattern of taking notes on what the classes would be about.

oOoOo

When Riku got back to the dorm after his last class of the day he found Demyx sitting in there already, he was laying face down on his bed and his clothes were incredibly disheveled. Riku frowned.

"Uh… Demyx?" he asked cautiously, he poked Demyx once. Twice. Thrice. Hey, fourth time's the charm… Demyx groaned and swatted Riku's hands away. When Riku continued to poke him he gave an exaggerated, _highly_ dramatic sigh and propped himself up into a semi-sitting position.

"Oh hi Riku," he said.

"Something wrong?" asked Riku, brow furrowed.

"Huh? No," said Demyx, he flopped back down on the bed, "I'm just tired… This school's too b_iiiiiiiii_g…"

Riku snorted, "What the hell was that?"

"What was what?"

"That noise you just made. You sounded like… Well, I'm not really sure _what_ you sounded like. But it was definetly creepy."

Demyx pouted, shifting in his bed so that he could glare at Riku, "Stop being such a meanieface," he whined, "I'm tired. You should be sympathizing with me and making me tea and cookies…"

Riku raised an eyebrow, "Tea and cookies?"

"Yeah, it's what my mom does," he explained, waving a hand around erratically, "You better get started on those cookies now if you want them to be done before I go to sleep. I like chocolate chip."

Riku just shook his head and smirked, he dropped his stuff on his bed and took out a few text books, which he promptly took over to the desk. Demyx blinked at Riku in disbelief.

"You're doing _homework_?" he asked incredulously. Riku nodded, "Why?"

Riku shrugged, "I want to get a head start. Stay on top of things this year."

"I ask again: _why_?"

An exasperated sigh was his only response.

Demyx huffed.

"Fine. Ignore me. Do your _work_," he sneered in a stuffy voice that caused a small smile to stretch across Riku's lips, "_I'm_ going to have fun," he sniffed, before turning his lab top on and signing on to some chatroom or other.

oOoOo

Demyx sighed as he signed out of the chatroom, he looked over at Riku. The silver haired boy had passed out shortly after he'd finished his work for the night. Now he was curled up under blankets, Namine clutched tightly to his chest. Demyx's smile vanished.

Well this was fun. He was stuck in a room with a roommate who was asleep.

Hmph.

It was as if some higher being had heard his plea for help. His cell phone rang, the sound of _London Bridges_ filling the room. Ah. Larxene. Demyx smiled and picked up the phone. He couldn't help but find it funny that Larxene, who always denied that she cared about Demyx at all, always called him to check up on him like this.

He supposed it was the only way she knew to show she cared.

"Yellow!" he chirped, quietly though so as not to wake Riku.

"Hell-o, dearest queer of mine," came Larxene's usual greeting. Demyx grinned, he knew, of course, that Larxene never meant any of her teasing, "So, how's the fancy-schmancy college?"

"It's great," said Demyx, spinning a few times in his wheely chair, as he had dubbed it.

"You got lost on your way to your classes didn't you?"

Demyx pursed his lips, the smirk in the woman's voice did not go unnoticed.

"…Yes," he admitted, hanging his head when he heard his cousin promptly burst out laughing. Finally after much delight on Larxene's part and much humiliation on Demyx's, the blonde woman sighed.

"So how's your roommate?" she asked. Demyx subconsciously glanced over at Riku, still sleeping peacefully.

"He's great, his name's Riku," Demyx began before going on to explain to Larxene the ridiculous rivalry that surrounded said roommate and how pissy Leon and Axel had been with each other, "I mean," he said, "they're really serious about this. It's like… I don't know, but you'd think they were obsessed."

"Hm," Demyx could almost see Larxene tapping her lip and staring at the ceiling as she thought, "that should be interesting for you to watch then," she said, "seriously, I'd kill to see a bunch of guys getting into a bitch fight over some poor, defenseless uke. He must be pretty good looking though if he's got all those men hanging on him."

Demyx snorted, there was something immensely funny about hearing Riku described as a "poor, defenseless uke" by Larxene. "Well," he said, shooting another look at Riku, "I guess he is… I mean, he's got this long silver hair that's just below his shoulders. And his eyes are like really pretty. I mean they're this gorgeous greenish blue color, and they're so _big _and _round_."

"And how's his ass then?" asked Larxene, most likely picking on a nail as she usually did whenever Demyx started talking about anything excitedly.

"Are you kidding?" blurted Demyx, "It's so cute! Seriously, and there are these times when he wears these really fitting jeans, and you can practically see Axel and Leon and the others drooling over him."  
There was a pause on the other end of the line.

Finally, when Larxene spoke up again, Demyx nearly choked on his own spit when he heard what she had to say.

"You like him."

Demyx spluttered, "Wha- I- Do not!" he cried, "Besides Axel would _kill_ me! Plus, it's not like I'd stand a chance against Leon or any of those others… I mean, I told you what Leon's like! He's like- like- God!"

Larxene let loose a snerk, "_God_? Oh please, Demyx… You talk about him like he's Xigbar."

Demyx narrowed his eyes at the sound of his ex-boyfriend's name, "Don't bring Xigbar into this," he snarled with surprising authority.

"Okay, okay," said Larxene, "but if you ask me you have just as much a chance as Leon or any other-

"Larxene I don't like him," said Demyx, sighing wearily, he ran a hand through his hair, "he's just a friend that happens to be really attractive."

"Whatever you say, Dem," said Larxene, though it was clear she did not believe him.

Demyx hung up that night certain of one thing. Larxene was full of it, he did not like Riku. Not like that anyway. Sure he was good looking beyond belief and sure he had a great personality but that was all beside the point.

The point-… The point was that they were just _friends_. Just roommates.

_And nothing more_, thought Demyx firmly.

And perhaps, for the time being, that was true. They were, at the moment, just friends. But it was also clear that Larxene was seeing something that Demyx obviously wasn't.

But of course, these things reveal themselves in due time.

**Author's Note:** YAY for eleven page long updates!!!

Oh _God_.

Okay, so I'm very sorry about the wait people. I've been trying to finish _Ignorance is Bliss_ as quickly as possible. I'm going to finish that story before I get back to this one. But don't stress out, there's only like two chapters left for dearest Iggy anyways. And yes I did nickname my story Iggy.

Also, I just reread some of the chapters of Uzumaki-sama's story _A Complete 180_ and I realized that she incorporated Irvine in that one! So I just want to make it clear that back when I read that story for the first time it was before I knew _anything_ about FF8 and I thought Irvine was an OC. So, when I wrote this story I wasn't trying to copy her!

Though I will admit that I put Denzel in here because I found the DenzelRiku moments in _Like No One's Looking_ adorable. :3

On another note, omigosh this story is way too much fun to write! It's such a nice break from all the drama in Iggy. Not to mention I basically get to line up all my favorite Uke!Riku pairings in here and then, in the end… DEMIKU TRUMPS ALL!!!

Mwa.

Ha.

Ha.

Tata loves, send me some reviews okay-kay?

bliss


	4. Bisexual?

**Pre-Author's Note:** Ahem… So yeah… High school? Freshman year? Homework? Hell. All sent straight from the deepest depths of hell.

But I shall try to do my best to keep updating.

**Disclaimer:** Achoo?

oOoOo

Life went on, and for the students of Xehanort University things began to settle down as the first week of school came and went. Even Demyx was beginning to get the hang of his schedule. The operative phrase there being "beginning" of course.

Still, friendships were forming, sport teams were getting organized and routines were falling into place. This was true for Demyx and Riku as well.

It seemed that, aside from the two days of the week when he had early morning classes, the task of waking Demyx every morning and getting him ready for classes had fallen to Riku. Not that the silver haired teen minded; in fact, he seemed to find Demyx's haphazard morning rituals funny.

Today was, unfortunately, one of those days when Riku was not there in the mornings to wake Demyx up. So the blonde was forced to rely on Nemo and Dorothy to do the waking for him.

_"Wake up! Wake up!"_

"Yeah, yeah…" grumbled Demyx, swatting at his alarm clock, "I heard ya…"

He sat up groggily, shaking his head to clear the fog, he looked around the room. Riku had already left and his bag was gone.

_So he's already left for class_, thought Demyx. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he headed to the bathroom to wash up for the day. Just as he was brushing his teeth, and taking great care not to shove the brush down his throat, there was a knock on the door to his dorm. He spit out the paste before heading over to open the door. Maybe Riku had forgotten his keys or something…

"Um… Hello?" he asked when he spotted who it was.

"Oh hi," said the man at the door, he brushed a few strands of pink (_Who the hell has _pink_ hair?_) out of his periwinkle blue eyes and glanced over Demyx's shoulder, "Is Riku here?"

"Oh uh, no," said Demyx, finally getting over the fact that there was indeed a pink haired man knocking on his door at eight in the morning, "he already left. He has classes early on Thursdays and Tuesdays…"

"Ah," said Mr. Pink Hair, he looked annoyed.

"Um, I'm sorry," said Demyx, "you want me to tell him you were here…?"

"Marluxia," said the man, "and yeah, if you could tell him I stopped by that'd be great."

"Okay," said Demyx nodding, he paused right before closing the door, "Hey, just asking um… Are you…? You're part of the 'competition' aren't you?"

Marluxia eyed Demyx coldly, "I guess you could say that… Yes."

"Oh okay," said Demyx, "I was just wondering, that's all."

Marluxia just nodded and walked away. Demyx shut the door and sighed, leaning against it. _So now I've met all of them_, he thought to himself. Leon, Cloud, Denzel, Axel and now Marluxia had all stopped by the dorm room at one time or another. And it was always to see Riku. So far they had all, except for Axel, treated him much like Marluxia had. Like he was a nuisance. They were probably worried that Demyx would try something seeing as he lived with the silver haired one…

"Stupid," muttered Demyx, shaking his head before getting ready for his next class.

oOoOo

Riku sighed, planting his face in his hands. This was what he got for agreeing to join Olette, Denzel and Marlene for lunch. _Why?_ He moaned inwardly, _there are plenty of other gay guys at our school… Why me? Why do they only get like this with me?_

He sent another resentful glare at Olette and Marlene.

This of course only sent them into another fit of giggles. Riku sighed, leaning back in his chair and tilting his neck so that he could glare at the ceiling instead. Maybe the ceiling would be nice enough not to giggle at him…

"He's so funny when he gets all mopey," said Marlene, one hand over her _giggling_ (Riku gritted his teeth) mouth, the other pointing one manicured index finger at Riku. Olette _giggled_ some more before sipping her drink.

Even Denzel chuckled.

Riku, not taking his gaze off the ceiling, said in a drone, "I hope you all know how much I hate you. Because I really do hate you."

The giggling continued. Riku's teeth began to make that painful grinding sound.

"Oh c'mon Riku, you are funny when you're mad," said Denzel, smiling at him from across the table.

"Yeah," said Olette, leaning forward and patting Riku on the arm, "all we did was point out that the guy behind the counter is checking you out. You didn't need to get all bitchy on us."

Riku sat up, not noticing the way Denzel had suddenly stopped smiling, and took another weary bite of his sandwich, "…No he's not."

Marlene sighed and shook her head, "Honestly Riku, I just don't get how you can be so oblivious… He was openly ogling your ass."

Riku blushed scarlet, "W- Was he really?"

Olette and Marlene nodded solemnly, Denzel just stirred his drink; suddenly looking quite pissy himself. Riku humphed and crossed his arms, "I don't believe you two… You're always telling me people are staring at me."

Olette rolled her eyes, "That's because people _are _always staring at you, darling," she said as if this was obvious. Riku grumbled something under his breath.

"What was that, pumpkin?" asked Marlene, clearly humoring Riku.

"Then how come I never notice?" asked Riku, beyond exasperated at this point.

Olette and Marlene exchanged glances; Denzel was preoccupied with the ceiling.

"Well," Marlene piped up, "I guess you're just completely oblivious to subtle advances… _That's why_," she coughed a few times, "that's why you need a guy who will outright tell you how he feels. Without beating around the bush, y'know?"

"OW!"

Riku's head snapped towards Denzel who had just lurched forward in his seat, teeth clenched shut, and one hand on his lower leg. He was glaring at Olette.

"What was that for?"

Olette smirked, "Nothing."

"Like hell it was nothing…" muttered Denzel, he inhaled slowly, "sonuvabitch…"

Riku looked between the two, "What was that?"

"She kicked me!" Denzel wasted no time in accusing the brunette next to him. Olette stirred her tea innocently; she blinked at everyone around the table, curling her hair on one finger.

"Who me?" she asked.

Marlene giggled, "That's not gonna work on them Ollie, they're gay remember?"

"Aw, darn, forgot about that," said Olette, lightly slapping the table indignantly.

Riku smiled, he had missed hanging out with Denzel, Olette and Marlene over the summer. During his first year at college the four of them had formed a tight group. It was nice to know that after spending a whole summer apart the four of them could still go back to being friends like they hadn't been apart for a second. He made a mental note to himself that this year he had to be sure to get all their phone numbers before leaving for home. It would be fun to stay in touch with them over the summer; even though he knew he didn't have to.

Marlene chose that moment to check the time on her periwinkle cell phone, a tiny gasp left her glossy lips, "Oh gosh," she moaned, "I really should get going…"

Olette nodded, "Don't worry about it; we'll take the check once we're all done here."

"Thanks," said Marlene, breathless as she pack her bag and hefted it over her shoulder, "Bye everybody!" she said before planting a quick kiss on everyone's cheek and walking out the door hurriedly.

Olette and Riku's eyes met and rolled upwards, that was Marlene.

Denzel was polishing off his sandwich, he glanced around the table before swallowing a mouthful of salami, rye bread, lettuce and various other things, "Speaking of being done," he said, eyeing all their plate meaningfully. Olette and Riku followed the pattern his eyes were using to watch the table. Olette sat back and sighed.

"Great," she muttered, "How does she always manage to sneak away right before the check comes?"

Denzel shrugged, pushing his plate away, "I dunno, but we'll make her pay for the whole thing next time…"

Riku bit his lip, "Aw c'mon you guys, you know Marlene has to work hard to pay for college…"

This was true. Xehanort, for all its niceties, was a pretty fancy college. Tuition was hard to own up to, and living on campus didn't help Marlene at all. Most of the students therefore came from pretty rich backgrounds. And the ones that didn't worked their asses off to continue attending the school.

Denzel and Olette both came from wealthy backgrounds. Riku, born and raised on a small time Island, relied heavily on his scholarship to get him through. Marlene on the other hand…

Olette sighed, tapping her nose, "I guess…But still… If she's short on money she should just tell us…"

"Yeah," chimed in Denzel, nodding his head so that his bangs fell into his face a little more, "we're her friends, after all. I mean, what are friend for?"

Riku remained silent, considering the way they'd been brought up it was clear that the two seated across from him didn't really grasp the fact that admitting you were short on money to your friends wasn't the easiest thing to do. After all, Denzel and Olette had never been short on money. Riku however, fully sympathized with Marlene.

The conversation switched to a lighter topic and the three friends chatted away amiably until the check arrived and they all parted ways. As they were leaving the restaurant, Denzel paused and glanced back at the man working behind the counter. Said employee was currently eyeing Riku out of the corner of his eye as he rang up another customer's meal.

"You okay? Denzel?"

Denzel blinked and turned his attention to where Olette and Riku were standing, watching him. Riku seemed curious while Olette had a knowing glint in her eye. Denzel's eyes flitted between Olette and Riku, and the worker; grayish eyes narrowed as once again the employee's eyes traveled to places they definetly should not be traveling to.

"I'll see you guys later," said Denzel, "I've got a bone to pick with the cook who screwed up my sandwich."

Riku blinked, "But I thought you liked your sandwich."

"Yeah but…" Olette fought down the giggles that rose up through her throat as Denzel scrambled for an answer, "it wasn't the kind of bread I wanted."

"Oh, okay," said Riku, still looking a little unsure.

"Alright then," said Olette, taking hold of Riku's arm, "we'll see you later Denzel."

Denzel waved and watched as Olette led Riku away from the café, as they walked Olette turned back and winked at Denzel while sticking her tongue out. He returned the gesture before turning the café and taking a deep breath.

That guy behind the counter was in for hell.

oOoOo

"I'm so lost!"

Riku looked up in time to see Marluxia throw his text book on the table in front of him with a look of ill-disguised disgust on his face. The silver haired one continued to watch as Marluxia proceeded to cross his arms tightly; a pout clearly visible on his face.

It was kinda funny actually, seeing Marluxia, in all his manly pink-haired glory, sitting there like a little kid who had grown tired of a task.

Said pink-haired manly man glared at Riku as the shorter one began laughing.

"Thank you," he said icily, "for all your kind-hearted sympathy. Really. I'm touched."

Riku leaned forward across the table to where Marluxia was wound up in a sulk, and even though he wasn't laughing anymore, there was still a smile in place. Marluxia too found himself grinning a bit as Riku stretched across the table to retrieve the text book that the larger of the two had thrown in his fit. Riku let out a tiny puff of breath as he slid back to his seat; the rim of his shirt had risen when he'd reached way across the desk.

Marluxia found his eyes straying to that small portion of stomach that was currently revealed. Just as his mind began forming thoughts centering around that slip of skin, Riku interrupted him; bursting his 'happy bubble' as he did so.

"Marluxia?"

Marluxia shook his head a few times, clearing it of his_ 'happy' _thoughts. He smirked at Riku, "What now, darling?"

Riku, blushing faintly due to the way he'd been addressed, lifted up the text book a little, shaking it in the air, "Don't throw books!" he scolded, "And anyways," he laid the book down on the table that was in between he and Marluxia, "we're here to work. And we've only got one hour too, so stop whining and try to get something done, mm-kay?"

Marluxia sighed and nodded as he leaned forward a little in order to grab the book from where Riku had left it on the table. The edge of the table pressed against his stomach a bit, but unlike Riku he didn't have to get out of his chair and stretch across the desk to reach the book. Heh, being bigger ruled.

Riku, too, seemed to have noticed the lack of effort Marluxia had to put forth to reach across the desk for he was pouting. Marluxia chuckled and patted Riku on the head several times; causing Riku's head to bop up and down each time.

"Never fret," he said in a sweet, motherly voice that just caused Riku's lips to purse further, "someday you'll be big and strong too. But for now, leave grabbing the text books up to us men."

Riku rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

"I think you've been spending just a little too much time with Leon," said Marluxia, waving an index finger at Riku. Despite the joking tone, he meant it, wholeheartedly. Riku merely shrugged.

"You think?"

The two guys had gone to the public library and rented one study room for about an hour. After all, the library had an excellent research section and getting work done was easy in the quiet soundproof rooms the library offered to students. That is, it would be easy to get work done if it weren't for a certain silver-haired distraction.

Marluxia wetted his lips as he returned t the pages of the text book, every now and then leaving his finger on the page to keep his spot as he made a comment in his notebook or scribbled a few lines on the worksheet. He glanced up at Riku… And froze.

The boy was feverishly writing something on a piece of notebook paper; his eyes focused solely on the paper and his writing. The pencil in his hand looked like it was dancing as its eraser end went up and down while the tip swirled over the white paper. Riku had clearly had one of those "brain sparks" that tended to happen when people did homework (or basically anything that required thought). One of those glorious moments where you're just struck by inspiration.

But none of that was what had captured Marluxia's attention.

No, what was holding the man's attention so aptly was the fact that Riku, in his concentration, had his tongue poking out of his mouth. Squishy and pink and caught between his straight white teeth. Now, combining that with the rest of Riku's face the boy looked downright adorable.

The smile on Marluxia's face promptly vanished when he looked down.

_Oh crap…_

"I, uh, gotta go," said Marluxia, standing up abruptly and making sure that he was headed towards the door opposite Riku; so that the slightly younger could not see the man's front, "be right back."

Riku's brow furrowed together, "Going to find another book?"

"No, uh…" Marluxia mumbled something about the bathroom before leaving. Riku blinked.

Then he shrugged and returned to his work. With the nervous way Marluxia had been acting Riku wondered vaguely if the pink-haired man had seen something provocative in his current book that had caused him to go to the bathroom in such a manner. Interest piqued, Riku once again leaned over the table and pulled the book Marluxia had been reading over to himself.

Marluxia was an art student… Maybe there'd been some picture of a guy naked… After all, wasn't nudity considered high class art?

Riku opened to that page that Marluxia had folded the corner of.

And promptly blushed beet red.

He slammed the book shut, squinting his eyes as if trying to rid them of an image.

After tentatively opening both eyes, he slowly opened to that same page and looked at the image there again.

And slammed the book shut.

In all honesty if someone who knew Riku, and knew all about his sexual orientation, had been watching this whole scene take place they would've probably laughed. Riku's expression could've been summed up in one word: hysterical. His eyes were shut tight and his lips were puckered together so tightly he looked like he'd bitten a lemon.

As he shoved the book across the table, Riku found himself at a total loss. If Marluxia really had gone to the bathroom because… Well… Then what had caused it?

_Ah my gosh,_ thought Riku, burying his face in his hands, _he must be bisexual!_

There was no other explanation, he decided firmly; nodding himself a little as if to reinforce this conclusion. Honestly, there wasn't anything else in the room that was provocative in the slightest.

_Hm_, Riku tapped his lip and watched the door Marluxia had exited through. Up until that exact moment in time Riku had always assumed Marluxia was gay.

Oh well, he hummed before propping his book open again and returning to his paper, it wasn't really any of his business anyway. Marluxia's romantic and/or sexual interests had nothing to with him…

oOoOo

"Hey, Demyx?"

The aforementioned blonde looked up from his essay to look at Riku; who was seated on his bed in the dorm. Demyx propped himself up a bit, "Yeah?"

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

Demyx blinked, "What brought this up?"

Riku toyed with some of Namine's hair, "Nothing, just curious," he looked up and stared at Demyx, big eyes looking strangely luminous in the half light of the room, "just… if you have, I mean, um… Well how could you tell if they liked you?"

Demyx sat up further, a small frown on his face. From the direction the conversation was going, he got the distinct feeling that either A) Riku was starting to catch on to one of the guy's attraction for him, or B) Riku liked someone and couldn't tell if they returned the feelings (bless his oblivious little head).

Either way, Demyx's following answer would have a huge impact on the "competition". He wondered if there was anything he could say right then and there that would give Riku the impression that Axel liked him. Demyx _had_ agreed to help his redheaded friend.

However he couldn't really come up with anything, so he settled on honesty.

"Well," he began, "I did have one boyfriend once… Xigbar. He was a few years older than me, and in way better shape. Um, we were together for a little over a year I think."

Riku's eyes widened, "That's a pretty long time."

"Yeah."

"What happened?" asked Riku before dipping his head a moment later as he realized that had been kinda rude of him to ask.

Demyx shrugged, "Well, since he was a lot older and bigger than me… He was…" the blonde's face reddened, "well, y'know… He was on top…"

"Oh."

"Yeah," Demyx shrugged, "I mean, that's no big deal, y'know? Someone's gotta bottom. And I didn't really mind. But after a while he and all his other huge, hulking friends started teasing me about being the girl in the relationship… At first they were just joking around and I was fine with it. It was just a joke. But after a while it just started getting old…"

Riku nodded for Demyx to continue.

"It was like— they were all so much buffer than me, so it just me feel really inadequate, like I really was weak," Demyx frowned, "so after awhile I started snapping at them, but then they'd just start teasing me about getting all pissy and PMS."

Riku's thoughts shifted to Cloud, he made an affirming noise and nodded.

"So finally I got fed up," said Demyx simply, "Xigbar flipped out when I dumped him. Kept saying I needed him," tipping his head back to peer at the ceiling, Demyx sighed, "so I told him I didn't need him and that I'd find another boyfriend.

"I hate to admit it but…" he grinned at Riku wickedly, "I'd love to be on top with my next boyfriend, just so I could walk up to Xigbar and really stick it to him."

Riku smirked, "That's almost sadistic of you, but completely justified," he added, "anyways, I think it's a good thing you left him."

Demyx looked up, startled. That was the first time someone had told him that leaving Xigbar had been justified. Usually people just told him he'd over exaggerated and ruined a perfectly good relationship.

"Well," said Riku upon spotting the look on Demyx's face, "the way I see it, if he couldn't tell that the jokes were starting to really upset you then he obviously didn't pay enough attention to how you were feeling. And if he did notice and he just didn't care, well then that's even worse.

"And anyways," he went on, "I can sorta see how you feel. Some of my friends, mostly girls, always tease me about being gay. And then they always gabber away about how uke I am. I don't really mind though."

"Hm," Demyx nodded thoughtfully, "no one's ever really looked at it that way before."

Riku shrugged, "So how did you know Xigbar liked you?" he pressed on, tucking himself under the blanket on his bed; the weather was slowly getting cooler.

Demyx bit his lip, "I guess it's hard to explain, if someone likes you… You just tell. You can see it in the way they act around you and how they look at you and stuff and— you have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

Riku shook his head dubiously, peering out from the small cocoon of blankets he had built for Namine and himself.

Demyx gave his essay one last look of longing before tucking it away and putting his school stuff back into his bag (and wherever random crevice he stored them in). He twiddled his thumbs a bit and spun around in his computer chair. Riku watched him, silently waiting for an answer.

"Well," said Demyx, blowing out through his cheeks, he really had no idea how to answer this, "basically, you can just tell. People tend to act differently around the people they like."

Riku's brow furrowed as if he were trying to piece together a very complex puzzle in his mind. After a while he shook his head, smiling at Demyx.

"Thanks, Demyx," he said as he lay down on the bed, "I was a little worried about something but I think you just cleared it up."

Demyx wondered just what Riku had just figured out, "Uh, sure, anytime."

"Night."

"Yeah, g'night."

**Author's Note:** Alright, personally I don't like this chapter very much. To me it kinda dragged. But I think I am now officially back on my writing feet. :D So hopefully you won't have to wait as long to see more writing from me.

Also, um… I'm really going to need some reviews today. In a few hours I'm gonna be leaving for school (it's a late start today). And well…

See, awhile ago in my biology class we had this huge effin' project to do. And I and my group spent over ten hours working on it. Over. Ten. Fucking. Hours. I kid you not.

Well basically we got our grades a while ago and… We flat out failed. And I do mean FAILED. Fifty-nine percent. And you know what gets to me the most? He told our class that everyone got either a C or higher. How the HELL is a fifty nine anywhere NEAR a SEVENTY! I mean, I'm sorry but I just don't think that's right. It just pisses me off.

But yeah… I can accept that maybe my group did something wrong, but I just can't tolerate that he flat out told us that we all passed. So anyways, when I get to school today first thing I do I have to talk to him about my grade.

I'm really scared. Like, I feel like vomiting right now, I'm actually getting queasy. So yeah, when I get home today I'm gonna be in serious need of a pick-me-up. So, please, please, please review!

Thanks.


	5. Flyers, flyers, EVERYWHERE!

**Pre-Author's Note;** I just want you all to know, that I'm currently writing this during my study hall. That's right, I'm actually _sitting in the computer lab at school_ typing Macarena for all of you.

See, a while ago my mom got me a flash drive so I could carry computer assignments to and from school. So while I was saving my English homework to the flash drive a glorious stroke of genius struck me. And so I saved Macarena to the flash drive too and now here I am.

I hope you appreciate how much dedication I'm putting into updating this piece. :P

Love ya all, I'm giving up my study hall for all of you y'know!

**Disclaimer:** There's a really hot senior sitting next to me… Ooh…

oOoOo

The signs had been posted all over the school sometime during the night. Upon spotting them for the first time Demyx had recalled Axel saying to him sometime last year that the staff at Xehanort's was always trying to find new ways to get the students excited about the school.

Something about "school spirit" and whatnot…

But anyways the morning had started out like any other Monday morning. Riku woke Demyx up as usual, Demyx freaked out about getting to class on time (as was becoming usual) and so of course he tried to get out of bed while taking off his sleeping pants and stepping into his slippers at the same time. This all of course resulted in a rather traumatizing episode involving said slippers, the bed sheets, a really disoriented Demyx and an impossibly flushed Riku.

Ah, such is life….

"Did you remember to pack your math homework?"

Demyx paused in the act of brushing his teeth (while combing his hair) to see Riku standing in the middle of the dorm room, one hand on hip the other waving Demyx's assignment in the air. He wore an expression of lazy amusement (Demyx was becoming accustomed to seeing this look on Riku's face).

"Oh my God, thank you so much!" Demyx blurted out, reaching forward to snag the paper from Riku's hand. Of course we must take into account that he had been brushing his teeth prior to this so really it came out more like:  
"Ackmugowd, dank koo po mooch!"

These words of wisdom were also accompanied by a spray of foamy tooth paste mixed with spit, all of which was spewed into poor Riku's unsuspecting face.

They both froze, Demyx's eyes widened.

"Umf fawry!" _I'm sorry!_

Riku didn't acknowledge Demyx's comment, instead he brought one sleeved arm up to wipe the mixture of spittle and paste from his face with distaste. He glared at Demyx.

"Smooth, Demyx, real smooth."

"Uh, sorry," mumbled the blonde after spitting into the sink and rinsing out his mouth, "sorry…"

Riku shook his head, "It's fine, I'll just sterilize my face," he glanced at Demyx's alarm clock, "you should get going."

"Oh right!" exclaimed Demyx, he returned to his usual morning routine. Meanwhile, Riku had seated himself on his bed, complacently swinging his legs a bit.

"See you later!" called Demyx, swinging his bag over his shoulder as he opened the door, he paused however upon spotting the notice that had been pinned to the front of the door.

Riku tilted his head curiously, "What's that?" he asked, getting up to stroll over to where Demyx was standing and staring at the paper. Demyx shrugged a bit, shaking his head as he looked up at Riku, who was now peering over his shoulder at the paper.

"Some school activity thing," said Demyx, lifting the paper up so Riku could better see it. Riku took the paper, looking it over.

"A Twister tournament?" he asked, more to himself than anything.

"Yeah," said Demyx, "and it's for teams of four…"

oOoOo

Axel stared blankly at the paper in his hand. His roommate, Vincent, glanced over at him. The raven haired man sighed.

"Please tell me you're not actually thinking of doing that stupid Twister thing," he said as he continued to do up the laces of his shoes.

Axel grinned cattily at him, "I dunno, it could be fun…"

Vincent rolled his eyes exasperatedly, "But you _hate_ Twister."

"Well maybe I'll have a change of heart," said Axel, going so far as to stick his tongue out at his pale roommate.

"Whatever, Axel… Whatever. You can make up as much bullshit as you want but you know you're only interested in joining because of you-know-who."

The red head smirked, "You know me _far_ too well, darling…"

oOoOo

"Oh no, Oh no, no, no…"

Marluxia practically beamed back at Yuna. The multi-colored eyed girl was shaking her head at him fervently, her brown locks of hair slapping her face.

"Oh yes," he said.

"You can't be serious," she whined, tugging at his arm beseechingly.

"Come now, Yuna, I thought you knew me better than this," said Marluxia, dangling the flyer in front of her, "it's a _Twister_ tournament. Think of the possibilities…"

Yuna, who had gone slightly cross-eyed due to the paper before her, bit her lip, "He's probably going to sign up with Marlene, Olette and Denzel. You know those four are great friends."

Marluxia waved Yuna's fretting off, "Even if someone gets to him before me… At least I can still watch."

oOoOo

Olette peered up at Denzel warily, the boy was grinning from ear to ear. For a moment the viridian eyed girl debated with herself, unsure of whether or not she really wanted to know. Finally she caved.

"Okay, Denzel, what is it?"

The auburn haired man just shook his head and, grinning wider still, he held out a paper to her. Olette blinked at the offered parchment before sighing and taking it in her hands. She stared at it for about a full minute before she finally returned Denzel's gaze.

"You can't be serious," she deadpanned.

And then, much to her horror, Denzel laughed; he threw his head back and let loose what could only be described as a howl, "Oh but I am."

Bring up a hand to massage her temple, Olette spoke very slowly, "Even if we did manage to get him to join our team before the others what would it accomplish? You're never going to say anything to him at this rate."

"Aw, c'mon Ollie," Denzel shrugged, "I'll make a move eventually. But right now, I'm still reeling him in."

"Yeah?" Olette rolled her eyes, "Well it looks like your fish is oblivious to the bait. You seriously need to try more upfront tactics before Leon or one of the others does. I mean have you seen Leon? He's starting to lose patience with this whole 'competition'."

"Well then," said Denzel, rubbing his nose thoughtfully, "maybe this Twister thing will give me a chance to actually do something…"

oOoOo

"So did you hear about that lame Twister thing?"

Leon held up a finger. _Just a sec. _

Cloud nodded, patiently waiting for an answer. He studied the brunette's countenance carefully. If Leon asked Riku to join their team for the tournament then Cloud would most likely be the third member of the group. Somehow the blonde just knew it would lead to disaster if he and Leon played Twister (of all things) with Riku. Together. All three of them… Yeah.

Eventually, Leon looked up from the book he was reading (the two of them were studying together in the school's library), and folded the page he was on, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Cloud sighed, "I asked if you'd heard about the Twister competition they're having. It's supposed to, like, raise school spirit or whatever."

"Oh yeah that," Leon nodded, reaching into his bag to pull out the flyer, "They say it's 'a great way to start off a new year!'." He smirked.

Cloud made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat before returning to the packet he was trundling through, "Are you thinking about going?"

He tried to make it sound like a throwaway question, like he didn't honestly care. But he couldn't deny that swell of accusation he felt when Leon seemed to seriously consider the question. It took awhile for the chocolate haired man to come up with an answer.

"It might be fun…" he said slowly, "although it could end up being another lame attempt to get the kids more involved in the school and shit."

Cloud nodded, "They probably want us all to go to the basketball games this year. Y'know, what with the few kids that went last year."

"S'not our fault our team sucks."

"Yeah," Cloud nodded, eager for the excuse to lighten the mood, "I mean, this school is art oriented. Who do they think they're kidding?"

"Beats me."

oOoOo

"You're in a good mood today," commented Zexion quietly, Riku tore his eyes away from their lecturing professor to look at his friend.

"I am?" he tilted his head skyward, "Hm, I didn't notice. I guess it's just because the school year's going so well… How's the whole relationship thing going?"

Zexion sighed, "Okay, I guess, it's not as great as everyone says."

"How's that?" asked Riku, not looking up from the notes he was dutifully taking, "Are you having problems or something?"

"Not really," murmured the other as he too turned his attention back to the lecture, "it's just getting kind of boring."

Riku looked up, "I think it would be exciting. I mean," he glanced at Zexion a little guiltily before keeping his gaze downcast, "couples, romance, love… It's like it's out of a book."

"You're a romantic," Zexion snorted, "that's ironic."

"How is that ironic?" asked Riku, now turning his full attention on the man sitting beside him.

Zexion hesitated, "It's nothing, nevermind," he said quickly, picking his pencil back up in order to continue notes. Riku bit his lip before reluctantly picking his pen back up. He honestly had no idea what that had been about and as much as he would have loved to press the topic further he really didn't want to invoke the wrath of the professor. After all, Mr. Saix was famous for spitting.

oOoOo

Demyx sighed heavily as he continued to drag his sorry self back to his dorm room; weary from a day of classes. Mondays were brutal. And after a peaceful weekend they always seemed to slam into him with the force of about five tidal waves, his second cousin Seifer, and a small meteor.

The blonde was seriously starting to consider finding a way to add Monday to the weekend. _Three day weekends would pwn_, he thought to himself.

That was when his super-awesome, mega-cool, fabulously-incredible and uberly-wicked ninja-like senses kicked in, alerting him to about four presences; all of which seemed to coming at him rather quickly.

He tensed, a feeling of dread rising up in his stomach.

_This _is_ when most people's last class of the day ends,_ he reminded himself. And sure enough, Demyx turned around to see Marluxia, Leon, Denzel and (of course) Axel… All racing towards the door to Riku and Demyx's dorm room. Every single one of them was clutching a flyer for the Twister tournament in one hand.

Of course.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Demyx dimly became aware of the fact that he was standing in the way of all the bachelors and that, with the way they were sprinting, it was unlikely any of them would pause to even _consider_ not running Demyx over.

And so, with that last thought in mind, Demyx turned around to make a mad dash for his room. All the while praying to God he wouldn't meet such an early and pathetic death. _"Trampled while heading back to his room by the guys who wanted to ask his roommate to the Twister tournament." _ Somehow, that really didn't sound impressive. Like, _at all_.

When he looked back and saw the others gaining on him he inwardly wished he'd had a second cup of coffee at lunch. Demyx continued running (for his life). When he was within twelve feet of the door he reached a hand into his bag to blindly grope around for the key to the dorm. Finally, during a rare moment of victory, Demyx pulled out the key triumphantly and then barreled straight into the door; sliding the key in and turning it as he did so.

Just as he was doing this, every single competitor rammed straight into him, all their momentum causing all five men to come tumbling and cascading onto the floor of the bedroom. Right at Riku's feet.

The painful irony of the situation was not lost on any of them.

As one all of the guys currently lying in a heap on the floor looked up to see Riku standing over them, one delicate silver eyebrow arched just so. Riku opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a very high-pitched, _very_ feminine sounding voice.

"Omigosh, orgy!"

And there she was in all her tang-topped, short-shorted, head-banded, knee-high-booted glory.

Yuffie.

The bane of Leon, Marluxia, and Denzel's existence.

And the soon to be love of Axel's life (for reasons soon to be mentioned).

The raven haired girl giggled before ruffling each man's hair. Once she was satisfied she straightened and folded her arms; her expression was decidedly smug. Riku just smiled and shook his head at her antics. He looked back down at all of them.

"Now that she's done with whatever that was," he began, "mind telling me what you're all doing piled on the floor?"

After a few minutes of completely unintelligible speaking, Denzel managed to separate himself from the mass of limbs. Standing before Riku, he dusted off his sleeves and then squinted at the ceiling as though wishing he were somewhere else.

"Well, I don't know about _them_," he said, stretching out the last word a little longer than Leon, Axel and Marluxia liked, "but _I_ came here to ask if you'd seen the flyers for the Twister tournament that's on Friday. Olette, Marlene and I were wondering if you wanted to be in a group with us; since it's teams of four."

"Oh," Riku blinked, suddenly looking a bit abashed, "well I-… I mean, I'd _really_ like to Denzel but… I already agreed to join Yuffie's team."

There was a long stretch of silence following this announcement.

Demyx, Marluxia, Axel and Leon all stood; after disentangling themselves of course. Leon folded his arms, sending a swift glare at the short Asian girl before his gaze softened and refocused on Riku.

"Who else is on Yuffie's team?"

"Well," piped up the self-proclaimed ninja, "there's me, duh. And now there's Riku. And the other two are Axel and Demyx of course."

Demyx blinked.

Axel blinked.

Leon twitched.

Marluxia twitched.

Denzel somehow managed a tight smile before saying, "Oh, okay then… Just thought I'd ask… Well bye." He walked out of the room, leaving behind a very awkward silence. Leon cleared his throat.

"I just uh, dropped by to let you know that Cloud was planning on testing some of his recent culinary experiments on you. Just thought I'd warn you," he muttered before he too left the room. Riku smirked.

"Thanks for the heads up!" he called after Leon as the door swung shut behind the brunette. Marluxia flicked some hair out of his face in annoyance.

"Yuna and I were thinking of catching a movie this weekend," he said; spitting out the first excuse that came to him, "I'll let you know more tomorrow, once we've decided on what film."

"Um, okay," said Riku, clearly not understanding why Marluxia had come all the way to his dorm room to tell him that he'd tell him something _tomorrow_, "See ya later." He waved hesitantly before turning his attention to the red headed man that was currently staring at Yuffie like he could eat her.

"Axel?"

"Oh uh," Axel shook his head, "I just wanted to come by and see if Yuffie had managed to ask you yet. C'mon Yuf," he added, waving a hand to usher the girl out.

Demyx looked at Riku, the silver haired one seemed a little perturbed by how many visitors he'd just received.

He looked at Demyx, frowning thoughtfully, "Well that was weird."

Inwardly the blonde rolled his eyes in exasperation; outwardly he shrugged before moving to put his bag away. Riku tapped his lip thoughtfully and then quietly shutting the door behind Axel and Yuffie.

Plopping himself down on his bed, he tilted his head at Demyx and asked, "So are you looking forward to the tournament?"

"I guess," said Demyx, unzipping his backpack and tacking out a binder full of papers and whatnot, "are you any good? At Twister, I mean."

"Mm-hm," said Riku, nodding once so that his hair flopped forward and back, "I'm really flexible. And besides, Twister's not too hard."

Demyx wondered vaguely whether or not Leon and the others knew Riku was flexible, they could all be so stalker-like at times; he sometimes wondered just how much of Riku's personal life they'd gone prying into.

"I'll probably lose us the tournament," said Demyx, chuckling a bit as he took out a pencil to write with, "I always lose really quickly in Twister."

A wry smirk wriggled its way onto Riku's countenance, "That doesn't surprise me."

"No," Demyx barked out a laugh, "it really shouldn't. You've seen me in the mornings…"

Riku smiled, before falling backwards on his bed, "Whelp," he said cheerfully, "made it through Monday."

Demyx made an agreeing noise as he continued working on the task at hand.

oOoOo

Axel fell into step beside Yuffie, folding his hands behind his back so that he could lean forward to peer at the shorter's face. Yuffie seemed incredibly please with herself. He pursed his lips in thought before deciding to speak.

"Soooo," he said, taking longer steps so that he could keep up with Yuffie; the girl had been struck by the sudden and unexplainable urge to skip, "want to tell me why you did that for me?"

Yuffie continued skipped, holding her head up high, "Because I need money to buy a present for Tifa."

Axel tapped the side of his face, distantly recalling someone telling him that Yuffie and Tifa were going out. He grinned, "Ah, I see then… How much do you want?"

"Fifty bucks," said Yuffie matter-of-factly, holding out her hand to Axel as if she truly believed the red head carried fifty bucks with him everywhere so that he could give it away to anyone that helped him win over Riku.

Axel's jaw dropped, "_Fifty_ bucks?! You can't be serious! I mean, shit, what're you buying her?!"

Yuffie hummed, dancing a little on the balls of her feet, "Maybe I want a little extra leftover for myself…? Aw, c'mon," she hopped forward and clasped her hands together pleadingly, "if you don't give me the money I'll just go to Riku and tell him all about the competition."

Axel visibly deflated.

"Fine," he conceded, "You win. I'll give you the money by the end of the week."

"Yes! Score!" Yuffie let out a whoop before throwing up both of her hands in the air and yelling, "Yatta!"

These actions earned her more than a few curious looks from passerby.

Axel sighed, running a hand through his hair. _Well_, he reasoned with himself_, It's only fifty bucks… I mean, it's not gonna break the bank or anything… _

oOoOo

Demyx jumped and held his phone about two feet from his ear as an unearthly shriek of laughter emitted from it. After waiting for the shrill voice that was Larxene's to subside he carefully put his phone back to his ear.

"Scream a little louder, Larx," he muttered sarcastically, "I think there are some people in China you didn't hear you."

"I'm sorry, I just…" There were a few breathless chuckles following this statement, "I mean a Twister tournament? This- this couldn't be any more perfect! Oh man, a bunch of gay guys in a Twister tournament together? The fangirls are already raving. Heck, _I'm_ already raving. It almost makes me want to transfer to your school."

"It's not gonna be like that Larx," said Demyx, picking at a nail, "the only one looking forward to it anymore is Axel."

"Right, because all the other guys are going to be PMS-ing over this for months right?" Larxene burst into a fresh round of cackles. Demyx shook his head.

"Honestly," he muttered, "I never know if you're a yaoi fangirl or not."

"Kind of both I guess, except instead of fangirling over it I just think it's funny," Larxene said, "entertainment, my dear."

Riku had gone to the library to work on some school assignment or other. In the meantime, Demyx had taken it as an opportunity to fill Larxene in on what was going on at Xehanort's. Apparently, she had taken up a keen interest in the Riku Competition.

Demyx leaned back and spun around in his chair, "Why don't I ever get to hear about your life?" he asked dully, "Why's it always gotta be me telling the stories and undergoing the verbal thrashing?"

"Because," said Larxene simply, "you're no good at 'verbal thrashing' and besides your life is far more interesting than mine."

"I could be a law student and you'd _still _think my life was interesting," said Demyx, "what is it with you and me?"

"Demyx, if you're trying to imply something I'm going to say right off the bat that I don't do my cousins."

"Ack! No, that's _so_ not what I meant!" The blonde paused in the act of spinning to slap a hand to his forehead. Larxene could be heard on the other line laughing at his pain.

"Of course it wasn't, love," said Larxene, sounding _so _convincing, "So anyways,"

Demyx could just see it in his head… He was the helpless hare dying in the dessert, and Larxene was the cruel unforgiving vulture circling overhead. Just waiting to make the move and torture him some more…

"You do realize that you're going to be participating in the tournament with Riku too don't you?" asked Larxene and Demyx mentally groaned as he realized where she was going with this, "How do you feel about that? Excited? Looking forward to having his tight body pressed up against yours as he reaches for that red circle that is oh so conveniently located right between your legs?"

"That's a run-on sentence, Larx."

"No! It's a question," her smile practically carried through the phone lines, "and you better answer it."

"I don't care," said Demyx, holding up his hands as he said so, "as far as I'm concerned this whole tournament is just a chance for Axel to get closer with Riku. I'm just the friend filling in the remaining position on the team."

Larxene hummed; clearly not believing him, nonetheless she went on to say, "Well alright, but I don't care what you say I _am_ going to find you another boyfriend eventually. You need to get laid."

"Larxene, I-

_Click._

And just like that she hung up on him. Demyx gripped the phone and glowered at it in disbelieving anger for a while; until Riku eventually got back from the library. The silver haired male quietly shut the door behind him before setting his books on his desk and flopping down on the bed. He lifted his head up just enough to see a very peeved Demyx.

"What're you so pissed about?"

"Annoying relatives," said Demyx, letting out a sigh as he imitated Riku by flopping on the bed, "You?"

"Annoying teachers."

"Ah… You turning in?"

"Yeah."

"See you tomorrow."

"Try not to kill yourself in the morning without me to help you."

"Aw, I knew you'd miss me!"

…

"Riku?"

"…Urgh, too tired to think of anything…"

"Ah, right then. Night."

The faint sound of breathing met Demyx's ears, and he found himself smiling as he wound up Nemo's fin for tomorrow morning and pulled the covers over his head.

**Author's Note:** FINALLY! Tis done!!! Anyways, so once again I apologize for the filler chapter. I promise the next chapter will have progress (not to mention things will _finally_ start heating up between Riku and Demyx).

I'd like to take this time to point out a little something to all of you though. Near the bottom of my bio there is now a link. Check it out and click it. Tis Freerice dot com.

Click it, do it, love it and most importantly: pimp it. Seriously, get all your friends, family and teachers in on it people! Freerice ftw!

So yeah, I wrote the majority of this during my study halls (which I oh so kindly gave up for all of you). Y'know the hot senior I mentioned in my disclaimer? He's always at the computer lab whenever I am. Tis very strange. And we always end up sitting next to each other (even stranger…). So we've now developed a pattern. I get there first and get all my stuff set up. Then he and his friend take the computers next to me. And then we work on whatever and every now and then he'll ask me something and I'll answer and- YEAH IT'S SO WEIRD. But I find it really funny, for whatever reason. He'll babble on and on and I'm just sitting there quietly tapping away.

He likes sitting next to me because I don't tell the teacher/attendant person (who's this CRAZY ASS psycho bitch) that he's watching sports clips. And I like sitting next to him because he doesn't try reading my fanfic unlike certain OTHER PEOPLE. –glares at the freaky boy that read over her shoulder- I think the freaky boy read my lemon from chapter one too… I hope he was scarred… Serves him right…

Anyways, I'm done rambling. Thanks for continueing to support this story guys (despite the erratic update schedule). I'm going to be starting _Washed Out_ soon so I'll be juggling both multi-chapters at once. We'll see how that works out…

Reviews are love!

bliss


	6. Twister

Pre-Author's Note: I disgust myself sometimes

**Pre-Author's Note:** I _disgust_ myself sometimes.

**Disclaimer:** Und I vas valking too-wa-ards de Valgreens…

oOoOo

Life, from the time the _Twister_ bulletin had been posted to the Saturday of the contest, had seemed to enter a strangely blissful stretch of peace. It seemed to Demyx that things had finally fallen into place in his current life at _Xehanort's_. Everything, the problems and drama, the laughs and friends was just going… maybe not always _going well_, per se. But it was definetly _going_. Like, despite all the work, Demyx honestly had a schedule completely established now.

Despite what Jack Dawson might've said, it's a good feeling to know where you're going to be at a certain time and who you'll be with. Not for forever, of course. But it still comforted Demyx to know that he now had an established place at his new college. His very own niche; a niche that fit like a puzzle piece with all of his friends and acquaintances' niches.

That was what the blonde musician had been thinking about as he sat in his dorm room. There was light streaming in through the window, reflecting the reds, yellows and other various colors of the now changing leaves outside on campus.

Demyx smiled contentedly as he stuck another piece of tape to his arm. The newly added piece overlapped with another one to form an "X". Further down his arm he'd made a rather _interesting_ fish, followed by a large jumble of tape.

The large jumble had been, at one point, a poor and misguided attempt at spelling out DEMYX on his arm in tape. However, somewhere between the E and the M he'd messed up.

_Oh well_, he thought to himself, wincing a bit as he tried to peel some of the tape off, _Damn, I didn't think this tape would stick so well… Okay, okay… Just take it slooow…_

"**What** are you **doing**?"

Demyx let out a yelp; he had started at the unexpected interruption and had accidentally ripped some of the tape off too quickly.

Riku, standing in the doorway, gave him a look that mingled disbelief, annoyance and amusement. Mostly disbelief though. _Definetly_ disbelief…

Demyx gave the silver haired male a pitiful look, "Help me."

Yup, can't forget disbelief when it comes to Demyx.

Riku gave a very long sigh before dropping his messenger bag on the floor and heading towards Demyx. Taking Demyx's arm he raised his eyebrows at the mess of tape.

"Does that say Demyx…?" he asked, tilting his head a little (as if that would **somehow** help him decode it).

"It's a poor and misguided attempt at writing DEMYX on my arm in tape," said the blonde, somewhat sheepishly.

"And… _why_ did you do this?" asked Riku, meticulously peeling away at the X.

"I was bored," Demyx shrugged, as if this explained _everything_.

"You were bored…" said Riku slowly, picking away at the tape, "so you covered your arm in tape…" He shook his head, "You'd think that by now you wouldn't be able to surprise me but…"

There was another heavy sigh.

Demyx chuckled as he began trying to take the fish off.

Riku debated with himself internally. Finally, after shrugging to himself in a would-be-careless way, he decided that he would just have to come to expect behavior like this from Demyx. After all, they were roommates. So, feeling very resigned to this sad truth of his life, he began peeling layers of 'DEMYX" off said roommate's arms.

"I now have newfound respect for _Elmer_," commented the blond while examining the quickly reddening skin on his arm.

"You and me both."

They continued working in silence, quietly working through the mass of _Elmer's_. Once there was only a few garbled pieces left Riku retreated to his side of the room and began changing into a pair of baggy green pants and a loose t-shirt.

Demyx raised his eyebrows at the silver haired male, trying to shake a clump of sticky tape into a garbage can, "What're you getting dressed for?"

Now it was Riku's turn to raise his brows.

"Uh, hello… The Twister tournament?"

…

"Oh. Right… I have to get dressed for that too huh?"

"Yup. I would avoid jeans."

Making an affirmative noise in the back of his throat Demyx grabbed a pair of khakis and moved towards his bed.

One way or another, he got the feeling something new was coming. Something that would disrupt his newfound peaceful existence.

oOoOo

"You guys ready to rock this thing?"

Demyx gave a cheer and pumped fists with Axel. Yuffie giggled and bounced in place.

Riku just rolled his eyes to the heavens; however, his silent "WHY ME?" didn't go unnoticed by Axel. Wrapping the effeminate boy in a headlock, Axel laughed, "Aw c'mon, Ri. This is gonna be fun, alright?"

Riku just stood up and fixed his hair, "Yeah, alright."

"Great," said Axel, grinning his most charming grin.

Demyx recognized it as the one he and the redhead had developed for the sole purpose of sweeping people off their feet. The redhead had gotten shockingly good at it, the musician noted sourly…

…Demyx had never really gotten the hang of it. (Larxene had even gone so far as to say that it made him look like a rabid dog)

Shaking off whatever remorse he felt at that, he hurried to catch up to the other three members of their Yuffie-spawned team. Their troupe was currently making its way towards the gymnasium wherein the contest was going to be held. While they walked they ran into more and more of the other teams; it seemed like a lot of people had signed up, and even more were coming to watch.

He turned towards the others, "Um, are there usually so many people at these things?"

Axel shrugged lazily, "Sometimes. It usually depends on how interested people are."

"And how cleverly the school advertises it," added Yuffie.

Well, despite how many people usually showed, Demyx couldn't help the twinge of annoyance he felt upon noticing that Marluxia, Cloud, Leon and Denzel all seemed to have shown up with groups of their own as well.

Probably just to watch Riku though…

Larxene would have found it funny though. She would have laughed and told Demyx something along the lines of:

"Ha! You finally get to a good college and look at what you've got to show for it! Your life revolves around your roommate's love life! That's hysterical! How perfect!"

And it was sadly true, thought the blonde as he silently agreed with his cousin. His life _did_ revolve around the "Riku Competition".

oOoOo

The rules were simple enough. Each team was given one _Twister_ mat. A teacher was positioned in the center of the room to call out an appendage followed by a color. As this was going on other teachers were patrolling the area, ready to pull out contestants who had fallen while trying to reach whichever dot they were supposed to be reaching.

One by one group members would be pulled out. The last team with any members on a mat would be the winners.

Demyx, Axel, Yuffie and Riku each flinched at the sound of a shrill whistle. Rubbing his ear distractedly, Demyx glared loosely at Mr. Tunone.

"Alright, people," the man began in his easy-going speech, "I am going to be the caller for this tournament tooo-day so you all better just shut up! …And let me do this thing. The rules are…"

Demyx glanced at the others, "Why do I get the feeling he's going to enjoy this way too much?"

"Because he already is."

"Ah…"

Once Mr. Tunone had finished off his instructions he blew the whistle again (just for kicks too, Demyx was sure of it) and the game began.

Mr. Tunone was seated on a tall white chair that was probably more suited for playing lifeguard or judging a game of volleyball. As he sat there with a megaphone resting beside him, a whistle around his neck and a _Twister_ spinner in one hand Demyx couldn't help but think that the grin plastered on his face seemed a little unholy.

In a corner of the gym one of the other teachers switched on some music and _Caramelldansen_ filled the room. Riku's eye twitched as Axel made a pained face.

Demyx braced himself.

"Right hand, blue!"

And the games began…

"Well," said Axel, blatantly ignoring the glares being sent to him via Leon and co, "I think this is a really great opportunity for some grown-up queer bonding time!"

Riku snorted while Yuffie just giggled at the fact that she was included in that statement. Demyx simpered, "But… But Axel… You wouldn't…? I thought we had something… something _special_… But you're just willing to go off and bond with— _them_?!"

"Left hand, REEED!"

There was a collective groan as the group shifted to make the accommodations.

Axel heaved a well-rehearsed sigh, "Demyx, I'm sorry it's just… Let's face it. You're clingy."

A scandalized gasp was his only reply before:  
"LEFT foot! GREEEEN!"

Riku tilted his neck back to avoid Yuffie's butt as it attempted to impose upon his face, "This is awkward."

"No kidding," Axel said.

"I kinda wish these mats were bigger," said Demyx. He, like Riku, was currently leaning as far back as possible to avoid certain unmentionable parts of Axel's anatomy. Axel pouted at the blonde.

"Why, Demy, are you trying to tell me you're not enjoying this?"

"Right hand, YEELL-OH!"

Mr. Tunone's bellow was followed by more than a few groans. Off in the corner of the gym, Demyx saw one of the contestants fall over, the first to have worked themselves into too complicated a knot.

He grinned a little; they were doing pretty good so far.

For the next ten minutes or so the group held brief joking conversations, punctuated time and time again by the inevitable shrill of the whistle and Mr. Tunone's roar (heightened by that damned megaphone).

Eventually however, as the competition progressed and more people fell out, Demyx found the he and the others were getting more tangled up.

"Right FOOT!!"  
Dramatic pause.

"_RED!_"

Evil laughter.  
Groans and shouts echoed through the gymnasium along with a very distinct: "Fuck you, old man!" emitting from one of the other groups.

Mr. Tunone's latest outburst had not been appreciated.

Demyx, who had already shifted into the new position, shot Riku a grin before turning his attention to Yuffie. The petite girl was giving the red circle a look that clearly said, "Why don't _you_ move under _my_ right foot for me, you goddamned dot?"

Demyx could only assume that the dot didn't like to be spoken to like that because it didn't move. Yuffie sighed.

"Here goes," she said before daintily attempting to get her right leg to bend in the direction she wanted; she didn't seem to care that right legs generally didn't bend that way, "shit, this sucks," she hissed.

The girl had practically bent herself into a backbend over Axel's arm. Realizing what was about to happen, Demyx opened his mouth to warn Axel to brace his arm but it was too late.

"Arrgh!"

"Ouch! Sorry!"

Saix stood over his students smirking, "Miss Kisaragi, you are OUT!"

Yuffie stood, gave Axel's abused arm an apologetic pat, resisted flipping Saix off and stomped over to one of the chairs the other disqualified students were filling up. Seeming a little too satisfied with his work, Saix walked away smugly.

"Well, that's one of us down," said Axel. Riku and Demyx nodded.

As Mr. Tunone's next instruction rang out the three males proceeded (like everyone else in the gym that was still situated on a mat) to stretch their bodies out accordingly. Sadistic smirks were becoming a little too popular with the teachers Demyx noted sourly. The idea of all the teachers being replaced by Larxene entered his mind's eye and, like clockwork, he suddenly didn't seem to mind the teachers quite as much.

While the game progressed all of the remaining groups (there were quite a few) found themselves getting a little more tangled up with their teammates. Mr. Tunone's whistle-blowing and megaphone-abusing seemed to grow more sinful by the second.

There were maybe twenty or so teams left when Demyx (after forcibly shaping himself into a shape that was either a pretzel, a dog chasing its tail or both) looked up to see Riku. Riku, unlike many others, seemed to be doing alright. Although he was clearly uncomfortable he wasn't bent out of shape and Demyx was fairly sure Riku wouldn't be having a major problem for a while.

With that last thought Demyx looked down at his own jumbled limbs doubtfully.

_I hope Mr. Tunone calls something else out soon_, he thought.

That was when Demyx remembered the last member of their group. The blonde glanced up to check on Axel just as the red head attempted to shift most of his weight onto his right hand in order to coordinate the rest of him to Mr. Tunone's megaphoned demands.

The plastic material twisted under Axel's hand, and so when the redhead tried to move his left leg he ended up falling as the mat and his hand skidded forward and gave out under his weight.

Riku snickered and Demyx laughed, doing his best to make it sound at least a _little_ sympathetic. Axel, laughing it off lightly, stood and brushed himself off.

"Ah well," he said, "looks like I'm out. Have fun suffering some more!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't remind us," said Riku.

"Bye Axel," said Demyx and his friend began walking over to the sidelines. The redhead threw one jealous look at Demyx before sitting down grudgingly. Demyx sighed. This wasn't exactly how things were supposed to go. The optimum outcome would have been Axel and Riku being the only ones left and yet here they were.

_"How do you feel about that? Excited? Looking forward to having his tight body pressed up against yours as he reaches for that red circle that is oh so conveniently located right between your legs?"_

_Shut _**up**_, Larxene_, he mentally growled.

The next order was bellowed and Demyx tried to refocus his irritation at Mr. Tunone; vivid images of ripping the teachers head off and shoving various pieces of his anatomy down his neck came to mind. The fact that none of these images were physically possible was of little concern to Demyx.

Demyx reawakened from his vindictive musings to find Riku laughing a little breathlessly, when the blonde gave him a questioning look the smaller of the two merely shook his head, smirked and nodded at the position they were in.

Demyx looked down and blinked.

He hadn't even noticed.

_Well, crap,_ he thought to himself. A sweat broke out on his neck and even though he couldn't see all of them in the packed gymnasium he could definetly _feel_ (as in **tangibly feel**) the glares that were no doubt emanating from Denzel, Marluxia, Leon, Cloud… And Axel too.

Demyx bit his lip and looked over at his longtime friend guiltily.

Axel was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed tightly and a look that promised imminent doom on his face.

Demyx gulped, barely even hearing Riku as he commented on the awkwardness of their scenario.

Riku was practically doing the splits with his left foot on a green dot and his right foot on a red one. In turn Demyx's left foot was also on a green dot… The only problem being that in order to stay on that dot his leg was in-between both of Riku's.

Both men had one hand on a blue dot and one on a yellow one. But once again in order to maintain the position, the two dots Riku had chosen were directly under Demyx's crotch.

The musician swallowed hard as his face heated up. Riku's whole body was stretched out and angled towards his own. Riku's face was really, _really_ close and oh _**God **_his _hands_… His _fucking_ hands that were just _way_ too close…

Riku, whose face was also slightly flushed, leaned even _closer_ (_Goddamnit!_) and he whispered directly into Demyx's ear, "I thought you said you were awful at this game."

**Way**. Too. _Close_.

Demyx swallowed again well aware that a piece of his mind was screaming mindless profanities at how wrong this whole thing had turned out.

His whole body was practically blushing; and somehow he flushed an even deeper shade of red, doing his best to lean his face away from Riku's (if only for more room to breathe).

Looking back on the whole experience, Demyx would swear that at that moment he knew exactly what people with high blood pressure had to go through. The blood inside his body seemed to be rushing everywhere and he just knew he had to be as red as a tomato.

And then the inevitable happened.

Demyx turned his head to glare at Mr. Tunone, sitting on his lifeguard chair like it was a thrown. But he stopped because as soon as he saw that look of pure evil on the elder's face he knew, he just knew he was not going to like this next call.

"Right hand, blue!"

Groaning a little Riku bent backwards, his right arm flinging back to land on a blue dot. With his legs stretched to their fullest, one hand still strenuously placed under Demyx's crotch while the other was uncomfortably located behind him.

To call it a "compromising position" seemed like such an understatement at that moment.

"Mr. Demyx, hurry it up!"

Demyx wasn't fully aware of which teacher had said that to him, all he could really do was clench his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut as tightly as possible as he leaned forward and (bracing himself for whatever punishment befell him) put his hand directly beneath Riku's ass.

Distantly, in the back of his mind, he noted that Larxene's prediction had turned out to be partially correct. He had ended up reaching for a dot beneath Riku's less public areas.

There was a moment's pause.

Demyx's breathing was labored as he tried to focus on _anything_ other than how **fucking close** Riku was at that moment. _Anything but that_.

Slowly, painfully, he peeled one eye open at a time. Riku's face swam into focus, mere _inches _from Demyx's own. The silver-haired boy was not smiling at the situation anymore and his face was just red as Demyx's. Demyx closed his eyes again, wishing he could crawl under a rock and die... This was beyond mortifying. The other guys were going to kill him after this… No one would even be able to find his remains… Leon would surely dismantle every part of his body and…

And he could hear Riku breathing. _Fuck._

Suddenly, Demyx realized that the rushing of blood throughout his body didn't seem quite as random anymore. In fact, it all seemed to be flowing towards exactly the same place.

_Not here_, he chanted in his head, _not here, not here, anywhere but fucking here! _

Never in his life had Demyx tried to will away an erection so earnestly. He couldn't think straight. There were thoughts entering his head that he did **not** want to be thinking. Thoughts that he knew Axel and plenty of other guys would consider punishable by castration and death.

In an act of desperation Demyx's mind scrambled to think of anything, _anything!_, that would somehow change his body's sinful reaction.

It came to him in a glorious stroke of inspiration.

_Larxene! Naked! Naked Larxene! _

It probably would've done the trick. Really. But unfortunately for Demyx Mr. Tunone had called out the next instructions before the idea of his bare-naked cousin could take effect. Riku and Demyx both gaped at eachother in horror as they registered what exactly fulfilling Mr. Tunone's orders would entail.

In his whirlwind of emotions, Demyx was hardly even aware of his actions. All he would ever really be able to gather was that he and Riku had apparently tried to move at once resulting in the both of them tripping each other's limbs and collapsing onto the mat in an intertwined mess. Demyx could hear the loud thump of his head hitting the wooden floor.

Next thing Demyx knew his head was spinning from the collective pressure of his pants, the glares being directed at him and the newly formed lump on his head. Strobe lights seemed to flash before his eyes and before he knew it he had blacked out completely.

oOoOo

"Unnh…"

There was a dull throbbing.

"Mmf…"

Something cold was trickling down his forehead.

"Oh hey, you're awake!"

And Riku was about two inches from his face with a look of immense relief on his features.

Inwardly Demyx chided himself for thinking that that expression was really sweet and endearing.

Outwardly he groaned again.

The happy look faltered on Riku's face.

"Um, are you okay?" he asked hesitantly.

Demyx slowly opened his eyes all the way, "…What happened?"

"You passed out," here Riku paused to giggled, though Demyx could find nothing humorous about the situation, "I think you must've given yourself a hernia or something from trying too hard. You had this look of concentration on your face…" he trailed off into laughter, "It was priceless.

"And then Axel and I carried you back here to the dorm. He left a while ago, muttering something about eating his feelings or whatever… I guess he's disappointed our team didn't do any better. And Yuffie hasn't stopped laughing. I mean sure it's—"

At that point Demyx stopped listening, only one thought was fully registered in his head.

Riku hadn't figured out anything from the experience. He had mistaken the look on Demyx's face for "concentration" and he thought Axel and the other competitors were only upset because they'd all lost.

The blonde musician let out a huge sigh of relief… He was safe. Riku hadn't drawn any conclusions… The bachelors wouldn't be coming after him with pitchforks any time soon…

The relief was quickly replaced however by shame as Demyx realized what exactly had happened to him at the tournament and what exactly it meant.

_I'm attracted to Riku_, he thought. And then he couldn't stop the swell of affection he felt as he remembered the past few months of wake-up calls and dorm room conversations. After all this time, all this time living in such close contact with eachother… Demyx groaned and fell back against the pillows.

Riku, still rambling about what had happened after the tournament, stopped mid-sentence and looked at Demyx worriedly. He bit his lip.

"I'll go get you a glass of water or something, okay?" he said before getting up and leaving the room.

Demyx waited a few seconds until the door shut behind his newfound object of affection.

"Crap," he said, "crap, crap, crap…"

And then he proceeded to bang his head back against the many pillows he had been placed on top of. The blonde only stopped when he realized that some of the pillows he was resting on had been taken from Riku's bed.

He tried to stop himself from smiling as he imagined the silver-haired male fretting over his unconscious body and fluffing the pillows under his head over and over again. It was such a nice thought, and he was pretty sure it wasn't far from the truth either…

Riku was such a mother hen sometimes.

Demyx sighed. This couldn't continue. _Axel_, his _best friend_ Axel, liked Riku. Along with countless other guys, _all_ of whom were probably much more deserving of Riku than he himself was.

Now, Demyx was by no means insecure, but he was still very aware of who and how he was. He was clumsy, he wasn't the sharpest spoon in the crayon box by any means, he wasn't charming or _that_ good-looking… He was average, through and through.

He shook his head sadly, this thing he had for Riku would have to end. Not only would nothing come out of it but he also couldn't afford to do that to Axel.

_I'm just going to have to get over it_, he thought resignedly.

oOoOo

"So, what then? You're just going to give up?"

Demyx bit his lip, contemplating how to answer the question without setting his volatile cousin off. She seemed a little angrier than usual…

_Maybe it's _that_ time of the month…_

"Look Larxene," he said, "it's not just that I wouldn't stand a chance. It's… Axel. Even if I _could_ I would never do something like that to him. Plus, Denzel and the others… They're all really good guys. And they've all put enough on the line as it is without me entering the picture and makings things even harder for them."

There was a melodramatic sigh on the other end.

"Demyx," said Larxene in an alarmingly gentle voice, "I… Goddamnit. You're just too fucking nice, you know that? No. Just… Listen to me alright? You're a good guy too, much as I hate to admit it. And if Riku's gotten your attention or heart or whatever well then I think you deserve a go at it just as much as the other guys. Even more than the other guys actually, seeing as you're my cousin and all. Do you understand me? I want you to go for it."

Demyx stared at a wall for several seconds, he really couldn't think of a decent response to something like that coming from _Larxene_, of all people.

"I-… Wow, Larxene. I'm not sure what to say to that," he said, "Thanks… Seriously," he took a deep breath, "but I still can't… It's not as big a deal to me as it is to them alright? They deserve him more."

Larxene's voice was irritable when she responded.

"Whatever, Demyx, I-… God, you just piss me off so much sometimes… I can't believe you're just gonna… God. Whatever, okay? Whatever. Just try to keep something in mind for me, alright?"

"Sure, what?"

"Try to remember you're not as bad as you think and that you deserve some happiness too."

Once again Demyx couldn't think of an entirely coherent response.

"Thanks, Larx."

"Don't mention it," she said brusquely, "anyways, I gotta get going. Oh, and Demy-darling?"

"Yes?" he asked, smirking at the nickname.

"Just keep in mind that if you **ever** bring this up in public I will deny this whole conversation. And then later on when we're alone I will rain bloody doom on your soul, got it?"

Demyx laughed, "Memorized."

"Good."

oOoOo

**Author's Note:** -sighs- I have no excuse. Really. There is just _no_ excuse. I mean, sure stuff happened and high school is harder than I thought but… There really is no excuse for how long it's taken. None whatsoever.

My writing, as you can see, has suffered because of my idiot English teacher's work. And the first half of this chapter is really patchy. But I AM proud of how the half that followed Axel getting out of the tournament turned out. THAT I am proud of.

**A NOTE ABOUT THE FUTURE:** So in a little more than one month I'll be going back to school… When that happens updates will become rare again. (as you've all no doubt learned) This upcoming year I've definetly bitten off more than I can chew. Firstly, I've signed up to be a tutor three times a week. Secondly, I'm definetly in over my head with the classes I'm taking. Thirdly, I'm going to be doing Theater Crew after school everyday. And FOURTHLY, one my friends keeps hinting that our band director is going to try to get me to join Jazz Band this year (which they really don't let you turn down).

And so with everything that's going to be going on I must ask all of you… If in the future I find myself impossibly busy, would it be alright if I started doing shorter updates? It's just that writing longer chapters will just take longer, y'know? This way at least the story would be continued and you'd all know that I haven't killed myself from overwork yet.

Anyways, I don't really have the right to say this but: Please REVIEW!!

bliss


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